THE  CHURCH 


JOHN   HUSS 

-HIS    LIFE,    TEACHINGS,    AND    DEATH- 
AFTER    FIVE    HUNDRED    YEARS 

By  DAVID  S.  SCHAFF,  D.D. 


Published  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

$2.50  net 


2De  (Ecclegia 

THE  CHURCH 

BY 

JOHN   HUSS 

TRANSLATED,    WITH    NOTES    AND    INTRODUCTION 

BY 

DAVID  S.  SCHAFF,  D.D. 

PROFESSOR   OF  CHURCH  HISTORY,    THE  WESTERN  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


Nemo  tenetur  quidquam  credere  nisi  ad  quod  movet  cum  deus 
credere  sed  deus  non  movet  hominem  ad  credendum  falsum. 

No  one  is  held  to  believe  anything  except  what  he  is 
moved  by  God  to  believe  but  God  moves  no  man  to 
believe  what  is  false. 

— ^John  Huss,  this  treatise,  p.  4g. 


■5  i 

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WYCLIF— 

Vita  et  dodrina  Christi  sunt  optimum  speculum  .  .  .  cum  mani- 
festum  sit  quod  omnis  homo  et  solum  talis  qui  est  in  vita  et  doctrina 
Christo  contrarius  est  hereticus,  et  omnis  christianus  et  solum  talis  qui 
est  in  vita  et  doctrina  Christo  conformis  est  ut  sic  ab  heresi  elongatus. 
— De  Ecclesia,  p.  41. 

The  life  and  teaching  of  Christ  are  the  best  mirror  ...  for  it  is 
evident  that  every  man  who  in  life  and  teaching  is  contrary  to  Christ 
and  only  such  a  man  is  a  heretic:  and  every  Christian  who  in  life  and 
teaching  is  conformed  to  Christ  and  only  such  a  Christian  is  removed 
from  heresy. 

HUSS— 

Spero,  ex  Dei  gratia,  quod  sum  christianus  ex  integro,  a  fide  non 
devians,  et  quod  potius  vellem  pati  dirce  mortis  supplicium,  quam  aliquid 
vellem  prceter  fidem  asserere,  vel  transgredi  mandata  Domini  Jesu  Christi. 
— Ad  Palecz,  Mon.,  1  :  325. 

I  hope,  by  God's  grace,  that  I  am  truly  a  Christian,  not  deviating 
from  the  faith,  and  that  I  would  rather  suffer  the  penalty  of  a  terrible 
death  than  wish  to  affirm  anything  outside  of  the  faith  or  transgress 
the  commandments  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

LUTHER— 

Verum  qui,  in  agone  mortis,  Jesum  filium  Dei  passum  pro  nobis, 
invocat  et  ob  talem  causam  tanta  fidiicia  ac  constantia  in  ignem  conjicit 
sese,  si  is  non  magnanimum  et  fortem  Christi  martyrem  sese  prcebet, 
haud  facile  quisquam  salvus  erit. — Preface  to  some  of  Huss's  writings, 
1527- 

Truly  he — Huss — who  in  the  agony  of  death  invoked  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God,  who  suffered  for  us,  and  for  such  a  cause  and  with 
such  faith  and  steadfastness  threw  himself  into  the  fire,  if  he  did  not 
show  himself  a  noble  and  brave  martyr  of  Christ,  then  will  scarcely 
any  one  be  saved. 


INTRODUCTION 

Of  the  writings  of  John  Huss  of  Bohemia,  the  Treatise 
on  the  Church  is  the  most  important.^  From  its  pages  the 
charges  were  drawn  upon  which  the  author  was  pronounced 
a  heretic  by  the  council  of  Constance  and  the  same  day, 
July  6,  1415,  burned  at  the  stake.  It  was  written  in  Latin 
and  the  translation,  here  offered,  is  the  first  that  has  ap- 
peared in  English  and  seems  to  be  the  first  to  be  issued  in 
any  language.  It  is  offered  as  a  help  in  the  appreciation 
of  a  memorable  man  who  deserves  well  of  Western  Christen- 
dom and  as  a  contribution  to  the  study  of  ecclesiology. 

I.  The  Author.  John  Huss  is  the  chief  religious  char- 
acter of  Bohemia,  as  Luther  is  of  Germany,  and  John  Knox 
of  Scotland;  and  he  is  the  one  contribution  his  country  has 
made  to  the  progress  of  religious  thought  and  of  culture  in 
Western  Christendom.  His  fame  it  has  been  possible  for 
several  centuries  to  obscure  through  the  semi-mythical  per- 
sonality of  the  Roman  CathoHc  saint,  John  Nepomuk,  but 
recently  Huss's  eminence  as  a  notable  preacher  and  an  un- 
selfish patriot  has  come  to  recognition  among  his  people,  and 
in  Southern  Bohemia,  though  it  is  loyal  to  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic church,  his  memory  is  yearly  celebrated.^ 

Bom  in  1373,  Huss  studied  at  the  university  of  Prague — 
then  in  the  golden  period  of  its  history.  In  1403,  he  was 
made  its  rector,  holding  the  position  six  months  and  later, 

^  Loserth,  who  pronounces  the  same  judgment,  says  that  the  treatise  has 
inspired  friends  and  foes  alike  with  deep  respect,  Wiclif  and  Hus,  p.  182. 
Huss's  main  treatise  attacking  John  XXIII's  bulls  of  indulgences  and  his  Reply 
to  the  Eight  Doctors,  Monumenta,  i  :  215-237;  366-402,  are  more  spirited  and 
make  the  impression  of  being  more  direct,  because  they  are  less  encumbered 
by  quotations  from  the  canon  law  and  other  sources. 

*  For  details  of  Huss's  life,  see  Schaff,  Life  of  John  Huss,  N.  Y.,  1915. 

vii 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

in  1409,  for  the  term  of  a  year.  In  1403,  he  was  also  ap- 
pointed preacher  at  Bethlehem  chapel  which  had  been 
founded  ten  years  before  to  afford  preaching  in  the  native 
Czech  tongue.  Under  Huss  the  chapel  became  the  most 
conspicuous  reUgious  centre  of  the  city  next  to  the  cathedral 
of  St.  Vite  and  the  centre  of  a  national  movement.  His 
sermons  at  once  attracted  attention  by  their  Scriptural 
fervor  and  by  their  attacks  upon  the  abuses  of  the  clergy. 
As  JEnesLS  Sylvius  bears  witness/  he  was  forcible  in  speech; 
and  his  purity  of  character  was  such  that  no  charge  was  ever 
made  against  it  in  Bohemia  or  during  his  trial  in  Constance. 
The  hostility  of  the  clergy,  which  his  attacks  aroused,  fol- 
lowed him  till  his  death. 

There  were  three  specific  movements,  which  involved 
J      Huss  in  trouble  and  brought  on  violent  dissension  in  Prague. 

The  first  was  the  spread  of  Wyclif's  views.  Soon  after 
Wyclif's  death,  1384,  his  writings  were  carried  to  Bohemia, 
where  they  made  as  deep  an  impression  as  in  Wyclif's  own 
country.  His  views  had  been  pronounced  heretical  by  Gregory 
XI  and  what  was  heresy  in  England  was  heresy  in  Bohemia. 
By  some  of  the  Prague  clergy  XLV  Articles  said  to  contain 
Wyclif's  views  were  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  uni- 
versity, 1403,  for  its  decision.  In  spite  of  Huss's  protest  and 
the  protest  of  Palecz  and  Stanislaus  of  Znaim,  Huss's  inti- 
mate friends,  and  other  members  of  the  theological  faculty, 
the  writings  were  forbidden  to  be  read  or  taught.  Huss  de- 
clined to  accept  the  decision,  and  was  charged  with  declar- 
ing for  the  remanence  of  the  bread  and  wine  after  the  words 
of  institution  and  with  publicly  announcing  the  pious  hope, 
that  Wyclif's  soul  was  among  the  saved.  Vigilant  for  the 
interests  of  the  orthodox  faith,  the  clergy  hostile  to  Huss 
appealed  to  Rome,  and  first  Innocent  VII  and  later  the  Pisan 
pontiff,  Alexander  V,  instructed  Zbynek,  archbishop  of  Prague, 
to  proceed  against  Wyclifite  heresy,  and  Alexander  ordered 
» Hist,  of  Bohemia,  chap.  XXXV. 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

chapels,  such  as  Huss  preached  in,  to  be  closed.  Against 
Huss's  open  protest  the  archbishop  seized  two  hundred  of 
WycHf's  writings  and  made  a  bonfire  of  them  in  the  court- 
yard of  his  palace,  1410.  After  this  event,  Huss  publicly 
defended  one  of  Wyclif's  writings,  the  tract  on  the  Trinity. 

A  second  movement  which  involved  Huss  in  violent  con- 
troversy and  trouble  was  the  change  in  the  charter  of  the 
university,  1409.  By  this  change  the  Czech  element  was 
given  three  votes,  and  the  foreign  nations  reduced  from 
three  to  one.  Against  Huss,  the  recognized  leader  of  the 
movement,  was  aroused  the  bitter  opposition  of  the  German 
population  which  exercised  an  influence  in  the  city  out  of 
all  proportion  to  its  numbers.  In  this  issue  the  court  party 
was  on  Huss's  side,  but  the  hostility  of  the  Germans,  so  Huss 
felt,  thenceforth  threatened  even  his  very  life. 
.1  The  third  cause  of  trouble  for  Huss  was  his  attack,  in 
1412,  upon  the  sale  of  indulgences  authorized  by  John  XXIII 
to  enable  him  to  carry  on  a  crusade  against  Ladislaus,  king 
of  Naples.  Deserted  over  this  issue  by  most  of  his  intimate 
friends  at  the  university,  Huss  nevertheless  spoke  out  as 
boldly  as  Luther  did  a  hundred  years  later  against  the  un- 
holy traffic.  He  had  already  refused  to  obey  a  citation  to 
Rome  and  was  now  placed  under  the  ban  of  excommunica- 
tion by  the  curia.  This  proving  ineffective,  the  city  of 
Prague  was  put  under  the  interdict.  In  the  meantime,  Huss 
had  appealed  from  the  apostolic  see  to  Christ  himself,  as 
the  just  judge  and  the  supreme  ruler  of  the  church.^ 

The  interdict  meant  moral  and  religious  starvation.  In 
part  to  avert  the  calamity  of  a  cessation  of  divine  minis- 
tries and  heeding  the  friendly  counsel  of  the  king,  Wenzel, 
Huss  withdrew  from  Prague  and  spent  the  next  two  years, 
from  the  fall  of  141 2  to  October,  1414,  in  the  rural  districts 
of  Bohemia,  protected  by  powerful  members  of  the  nobility, 

*  Palacky,  DocutnetUa,  192,  464-466,  726.    See  SchafiF,  Life  of  Huss,  pp. 
138,  etc. 


X  INTRODUCTION 

and  preaching  in  the  villages  and  on  the  fields  and  active 
with  his  pen. 

The  cecumenical  council,  which  was  appointed  to  meet 
at  Constance  in  14 14,  seemed  to  offer  an  opportunity  for  a 
fair  hearing  of  Huss's  case  and  the  removal  from  Bohemia 
of  the  ill-fame  of  heresy  which  now  attached  to  it.  For 
Huss's  name  was  spread  all  through  Europe  and  was  scarcely 
less  notorious  than  Wyclif's.  Provided  with  a  safe-conduct 
by  Sigismund,  heir  of  his  brother  Wenzel  and  of  the  empire, 
Huss  proceeded  to  the  council  but,  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
Constance,  was  seized  by  the  cardinals  and  consigned  to 
prison,  where  he  languished  till  death  put  an  end  to  his  trials. 

Examined  by  one  commission  after  another,  including 
among  its  members  such  eminent  men  as  d'AUly  and  Car- 
dinal Zabarella,  he  persistently  refused  to  abjure,  unwilling, 
as  he  professed,  to  offend  against  God  and  his  conscience. 
On  July  6,  141 5,  the  council  in  full  session  charged  him  with 
thirty  errors  and  turned  him  over  to  the  civil  authority  to 
suffer  the  penalty  appointed  for  heretics,  death  in  the  flames. 

II.  The  Circumstances  under  which  the  treatise  was 
written.  The  immediate  occasion  of  the  writing  of  the 
Treatise  on  the  Church  was  a  document  signed  by  eight 
doctors  belonging  to  the  theological  faculty  of  the  univer- 
sity, dated  February  6,  1413.  Its  immediate  occasion  was 
the  papal  bulls  calling  for  a  crusade  against  that  refractory 
Christian  prince,  Ladislaus  of  Naples,  and  the  sale  of  indul- 
gences on  the  streets  of  Prague.  It  asserted  the  duty  of 
absolute  submission  to  the  commands  of  pope  and  other 
ecclesiastical  superiors,  condemned  the  XLV  Wyclifite  Arti- 
cles as  scandalous  and  heretical  and  demanded  that  the 
kingdom  of  Bohemia  be  cleared  of  heresy,  if  necessary  by 
the  severest  ecclesiastical  and  also  civil  punishments.^  The 
Bohemian  clergy  and  nation,  it  affirmed,  were  in  complete 
accord  in  all  matters  of  belief  and  worship  with  the  Roman 
*  For  the  text  in  Latin  and  Czech,  Doc,  475-485. 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

church — tenet  et  credit  fideliter  sicut  Rotnana  ecclesia  et  non 
aliter — the  pope  being  the  head  of  the  Roman  church  and 
the  college  of  cardinals  its  body.  Of  all  names,  so  the  doc- 
tors confessed,  the  name  heretic  is  the  most  to  be  abhorred. 
As  for  the  sentences  pronounced  by  Rome  upon  Huss,  it  was 
not  within  the  province  of  the  clergy  of  Prague  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  them — nee  est  cleri  in  Praga  judicare  si  justa 
vel  injusta  est  M.  J.  Hus  excommunicatio  et  aggravatio  a  curia 
romana. 

These  and  other  positions  of  the  eight  doctors  the  Treatise 
on  the  Church  takes  up  one  by  one  and  discusses.  Huss's 
work  called  forth  replies  from  Palecz  and  Stanislaus  of  Znaim, 
two  of  the  signers  of  the  document,  and  to  each  Huss  made 
a  rejoinder  as  he  also  wrote  a  more  elaborate  and  very  vig- 
orous rejoinder  addressed  to  the  eight  doctors  as  a  body.^ 
In  the  first  two  of  these  rejoinders  Huss  cites  his  Treatise 
on  the  Church  by  name  at  least  eleven  times,  and  in  the 
Reply  to  the  Eight  Doctors  at  least  five  times.^  The  Treatise 
on  the  Church  grows  in  interest  as  it  is  read  in  connection 
with  these  three  cognate  works,  which  further  elucidate  some 
of  its  principles  and  add  items  of  personal  interest. 

Intended  as  a  reply  to  the  document  issued  by  the  eight 
theological  doctors,  this  treatise  became  Huss's  apologia  pro 
sua  vita,  the  defense  of  the  views  which  he  had  drawn  from 
Wyclif  and  advocated.  With  Cajetan  before  Luther  at  Augs- 
burg, the  eight  doctors  knew  of  only  one  word  appHcable 
to  Huss,  the  word  recant.  His  case  was  not  arguable.  Un- 
questioning submission  was  imperative.  Rome  had  spoken: 
"Yield  and  obey,"  they  wrote — obediendum  et  pariendum 
est?  Huss's  final  reply  was  not  recorded  with  pen  or  ex- 
pressed by  word  of  mouth.  He  sealed  his  convictions  with 
his  life  at  Constance. 

^The  text  is  given  in  Mon.,  i  :  318-331;  331-365;  365-408. 
^Mon.,  I  :  320,  321,  323,  328,  329,  335,  etc.    In  the  rejoinder  to  the  eight 
doctors  the  Reply  to  Stanislaus  is  quoted  at  least  twice. 
^  Doc,  I  :  480. 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

III.  Contents.  Huss's  line  of  thought  runs  as  follows: 
First,  the  author  defines  the  church  and  its  headship.  He 
proceeds  by  discussing  the  authority  of  the  pope  and  the 
college  of  cardinals.  The  power  of  the  keys  is  then  taken  up 
at  length,  and  the  limits  in  ecclesiastical  matters  of  the  au- 
thority of  superiors  over  inferiors  examined.  Finally,  the 
Scriptures  are  set  forth  as  the  sufficient  standard  of  faith 
and  conduct.  The  conclusions,  thus  reached,  Huss  then 
applies  to  his  own  case  of  alleged  contumacy  to  the  man- 
dates of  his  ecclesiastical  superiors  with  the  result  that  a 
Christian's  supreme  duty  is  to  the  Scriptures  and  God,  for, 
as  he  often  repeats:  "We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than 
men." 

\y''  Not  only  are  these  main  principles  also  discussed  in  the 
three  rejoinders  referred  to  above,  but  they  are  taken  up  in 
other  works  such  as  his  Six  Errors, — de  sex  Errorihus — his 
Attack  on  the  Bulls  of  Indulgence,  his  Reply  to  an  Occult 
Adversary  and  in  his  letters  written  during  the  period  of 
his  semi-voluntary  exile  from  Prague  and  his  imprisonment 
at  Constance,  especially  his  letters  to  Christian  Prachaticz, 
rector  of  the  university  of  Prague.^ 

In  the  following  fundamental  positions  the  Treatise  on 
the  Church  opposed  the  accredited  ecclesiastical  system 
which  the  fifteenth  century  had  inherited  from  the  age  of 
the  Schoolmen. 

V  I.  The  Church .2    The  holy  catholic— or  universal— church 

is  the  body  of  the  predestinate  in  heaven,  earth  and  purga- 
tory. The  church  is  either  general  or  particular.  Wherever 
two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  Christ's  name  there 
is  the  church,  whether  in  India,  Greece,  Spain,  Rome  or 
any  other  locality.  The  church  is  one  throughout  the  world. 
The  bond  of  unity  is  predestinating  grace  or,  as  Huss  also 
put  it,  faith,  hope  and  love.'    The  pope,  as  he  affirmed  dis- 

•  Doc,  54-63.  "^  Especially  chaps.  I- VII. 

» Pp.  14,  49,  59  etc. 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

tinctly,  is  not  the  bond  of  Christian  unity,  and  nowhere  does 
he  represent  the  sacraments  els  the  bond  of  unity. 

Following  Augustine,  Huss  proceeds  to  show  that  the 
church  is  a  mixed  body,  made  up  of  predestinate  and  prcesciti, 
or  reprobate,  and  he  uses  the  parable  of  the  net  and  other 
parables  to  prove  it.  Although  according  to  the  popular 
opinion — vocationem  vulgarem  et  reputationem  ecdesiasticam — 
all  Christians  are  members  of  the  church  miUtant,  yet  it  is 
one  thing,  Huss  affirmed,  to  be  in  the  church  and  another  to 
be  of  the  church.  Judas  was  in  the  church  for  a  season,  but 
ultimately  lost,  and  Paul  by  predestination  was  of  it  even 
during  the  period  of  his  persecuting  activity,  when  he  was 
not  in  it.^ 

These  definitions  set  aside  the  following  views  which  pre- 
vailed in  Huss's  time. 

The  pope  and  the  cardinals  do  not  constitute  the  church. 
This  was  a  wide-spread  popular  conception  and  Huss  is  at 
great  pains  to  prove  its  fallacy.  The  document  of  the  eight 
doctors  had  so  defined  the  church.  Wyclif,  before  Huss,  had 
said  that  "the  public  understands  by  the  Roman  church  the 
pope  and  the  cardinals."  ^ 

The  church  is  not  confined  to  the  body  over  which  the 
apostolic  see  has  jurisdiction.  The  particular  Roman  church 
is  a  company  of  the  faithful  living  under  the  obedience  of 
Rome,  as  the  companies  of  the  faithful  living  under  the  obe- 
dience of  Antioch  and  Constantinople  were  called  the  church 
of  Antioch  and  the  church  of  Constantinople.  In  a  notable 
passage  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Prachaticz,  Huss  said  suc- 
cinctly: "The  Roman  church  is  not  the  catholic  apostolic 
church,  for  no  partial  church  can  be  the  holy  catholic  church. 

'  Pp.  i6  sq.,  21,  30  sqq.,  41  sqq.,  58,  etc.  Huss's  word  prasciti,  or  foreknown, 
does  not  contain  all  that  the  word  reprobate  means,  although  they  are  one  in  this 
that  they  both  imply  ultimate  perdition.  The  first  word  does  not  involve  an 
active  decree  of  reprobation  which  the  word  reprobate  is  usually  taken  to 
involve. 

^  Pp.  58,  etc.,  Wyclif 's  words  are:  Communitas  inlelligit  per  Rom.  cedes, 
papam  et  cardinales  quibus  est  necessarium  omnibus  aliis  obedire.  de  Eccles.,  92. 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

However,  among  the  militant  churches  the  Roman  church  is 
the  principal  one."  ^ 

The  church  is  not  inerrant.  One  of  the  proofs  given  is 
that  the  church  chose  Agnes,  a  woman,  pope  and  consented 
to  be  ruled  over  by  her.  Indeed,  the  Roman  church  with 
the  pope  and  cardinals  may  be  transformed  into  Sodom, 
but  against  the  Church  of  Christ  the  gates  of  hell  cannot 
prevail.^ 

Pope  and  prelates  are  not  necessarily  in  authority  by 
reason  of  appointment  or  election  to  office.^  They  only  are 
true  officials,  and  only  the  authority  of  those  prelates  is  to 
be  acknowledged,  whose  lives  are  in  accordance  with  Christ's 
precepts.  The  standard  of  judgment  is  found  in  the  words, 
"by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  a  passage  Huss  quoted 
again  and  again.* 

All  these  assertions  make  straight  in  the  direction  of  the 
rights  of  private  judgment.  On  that  principle  Huss  justi- 
fied his  refusal  to  obey  the  Roman  pontiff  and  other  ecclesi- 
astical superiors. 

2.  The  Papacy.  The  Roman  pontiff  is  not  the  head 
of  the  church  on  earth.  Christ  is  the  head.  Not  by  dele- 
gated authority  does  Christ's  promise,  '^Lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,"  become  effective.  Every  predestinate  person  is  im- 
mediately joined  to  him  and  receives  from  him  grace  and 
religious  power  even  as  the  body  receives  sensation  and 
guidance  from  the  head.  Were  this  not  the  case,  the  church 
would  have  many  times  been  acephalous,  without  a  head,  as 
in  the  interims  between  the  death  of  one  pontiff  and  the 
election  of  his  successor.  The  pope,  so  the  doctors  affirmed, 
is  the  head  of  the  whole  militant  church,  its  heart,  its  navel, 
its  unfailing  fountain,  and  its  all-sufficient  refuge — caput,  cor, 

*  Pp.  62,  63,  etc.,  Doc,  SQ. 

^  Fallit  eifalliiur,  pp.  133  sq.,  etc.;  Doc,  59;  also  ad  Palecz,  Mon.,  i  :  323, 
336;  Doc,  6i,  etc.;  tola  militans  eccles.  errat  in  muUis  qucs  concernunt  div.  judi- 
cium el  statum,  Mon.,  i  :  227,  233,  35859. 

'  Especially  chap.  XrV.  *Pp.  136,  143,  145,  160,  182. 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

alveus,  Jons  indeficiens  et  refugium  sufficientissimum.  In  view 
of  such  statements,  Huss  affirms  that  the  doctors  treated  the 
Roman  pontiff  as  a  fourth  person  in  divine  things  and  placed 
him  on  an  equality  with  the  Holy  Spirit.^ 

In  the  course  of  his  discussion  on  the  papal  office,  Huss 
^    presents  the  following  views: 

The  rock  upon  which  the  church  is  built,  Matt.  i6  :  i8, 

is  Christ  and  not  Peter.^     The  Apostles  called  Christ  the 

foundation.    To  Christ,  not  to  Peter,  did  the  patriarchs  look 

r  forward;    and  the  early  Christians  did  not  base  their  faith 

on  the  Apostle. 

The  Roman  pontiff  shares  authority  with  other  bishops 
of  the  church,  as  Peter  shared  authority  with  the  other 
Apostles.  Christ  did  not  give  the  care  of  all  the  sheep  to 
Peter  even  as  he  did  not  exclusively  give  him  the  power  to 
preach  and  administer  the  sacraments.^ 

The  word  pope  is  not  a  Scriptural  word  and  in  the  early 
history  of  the  church  there  were  a  nimiber  of  popes.*  Orig- 
inally all  bishops  were  called  popes,  and  these  were  equally 
the  immediate  vicars  of  Christ. 

The  pope  is  not  infallible.  In  matters  of  faith  popes 
may  err  and  have  eued—falli  et  fallere  possuni.  They  may 
be  led  astray  by  avarice  or  be  deceived  by  ignorance.^ 

The  pope  may  also  be  a  heretic  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
before  the  fifteenth  century  there  had  been  both  wicked 
men  and  heretics  on  the  papal  chair.    Here  Huss  drew  for 

^  Especially  chap.  XIII.  See  ad  Palecz,  ad  SlanisL,  and  ad  octo  doctt.,  Mon., 
I  :  320  sq.,  326,  350,  353,  385,  etc.;  Ponat  doctor  papam  omnino  sufficiens  refu- 
gium omnibus  filiis  ecclesicB  sicui  est  Spiritus  s.  et  dicam  quod  posuit  quariam 
personam  in  divinis,  i  :  354. 

^  Pp.  59  sq.,  etc.,  especially  chap.  IX.  This  formed  the  subject  of  the  ninth 
charge  made  against  Huss  at  Constance.  In  his  Super  IV.  Sent.,  Huss  did 
not  refer  to  the  famous  passage,  Matt.  16  :  18.      Comp.  p.  559. 

'  Comp.  ad  Palecz,  etc.,  Mon.,  i  :  320,  353,  356,  etc. 

*Plures  papa,  ad  Palecz,  Mon.,  1  :  326,  342.  Pope  means  father  and  was 
first  limited  to  the  Roman  pontiff  by  order  of  Gregory  VII. 

*Pp.  61,  66,  71.  See  also  Man.,  i  :  227,  233,  343,  359,  etc.;  Doc, 
58,  etc. 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

historical  data  upon  the  Chronicles  of  Ranulph  Higden,  Mar- 
tinus  Polonus,  and  Rudolph  Glaber.^ 

Repeatedly  did  Huss  return  to  the  list  of  popes  heretical 
and  popes  jflagitious.  The  rudest  layman,  a  woman,  a  here- 
tic, yea  antichrist  himself  may  be  a  pope.^  But  in  none 
of  these  lists  does  the  name  of  Honorius  I  appear,  the  pon- 
tiff on  whose  case  Bishop  Hefele,  in  1870,  rested  the  argu- 
ment against  the  doctrine  of  papal  infallibility. 

Among  the  heretical  popes  Huss  included  Boniface  VIII 
and  Clement  VII  of  the  fourteenth  century  and,  as  more 
recent  cases  of  papal  errors,  he  cited  the  acts  of  Boniface  IX 
setting  aside  Wenzel  as  king  of  the  Romans  and  Sigismund 
as  king  of  Hungary.  During  his  trial  Huss  had  another  in- 
stance at  hand  of  a  disreputable  pontiff  in  John  XXIII, 
accepted  by  almost  the  whole  of  Western  Christendom  and 
then  deposed  for  crimes  and  iniquities  unspeakable.  Huss 
also  recalled  that  Gregory  XII  and  Benedict  XIII  were  pro- 
nounced heretics  by  the  council  of  Pisa.' 

But  the  case  on  which  Huss  laid  most  stress  was  the  pa- 
pissa  Agnes  who,  according  to  the  universal  opinion  of  his 
time,  occupied  under  the  name  of  John  VIII  the  papal  office 
for  more  than  two  years.  Gerson  used  her  as  a  proof  that 
it  is  possible  for  the  church  to  err.  It  was  monstrous,  so 
Huss  thought,  for  a  female  to  rule  Christendom,  and  such  a 
female — a  woman  of  unsavory  repute  before  she  was  made 
pope  and  revealing  her  sex  by  the  sudden  birth  of  a  child 
on  one  of  the  streets  of  the  holy  city.* 

^  Especially  chap.  XVII.  Huss  also  presented  these  views  from  the  pulpit. 
See  Life  0}  Huss,  p.  38. 

^  Mon.,  I  :  342.  In  his  Theol.  Symbolics,  p.  231,  Doctor  Briggs  brushes 
aside  the  case  of  Honorius  I  as  not  pertinent,  without  even  mentioning  the 
names  of  DoUinger,  Hefele,  and  other  eminent  Catholic  historians  who  have 
taken  the  view  that  he  was  manifestly  a  heretic. 

^  Mon.,  I  :  232.  Though  the  coimcil  of  Pisa  was  treated  as  oecumenical 
by  the  council  of  Constance  and  was  fonnerly  accepted  by  accredited  Roman 
Catholic  historians,  it  is  now  universally  disowned  in  the  Catholic  church. 

*Some  of  the  other  references  to  Agnes  outside  this  treatise  are:  Man., 
I  :  324,  326,  336,  339,  343,  344,  347,  etc.;  Doc,  58,  61,  etc. 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

Huss  went  still  further,  in  declaring  that  popes  may  be 
prasciti,  reprobates,  though  legitimately  elected  to  their  of- 
fice. Without  definitely  assigning  by  name  this  or  that  pon- 
^  tiff  to  hell,  as  did  Dante,  yet  Huss  declared  that  popes  there 
have  been  who  had  conferred  ample  indulgences  by  word — 
verbalUer — and  are  damned.  Christ  chose  a  thief  as  an 
Apostle:  so  may  the  cardinals  choose  an  antichrist  as  Roman 
pontiff.  The  only  standard  by  which  it  can  be  judged 
whether  a  pope  is  a  vicar  of  Christ  or  antichrist  is  by  his 
conformity  to  the  law  of  Christ  in  daily  life  and  ministries.^  ^ 

The  outward  display  assumed  by  popes,  the  kissing  of 
their  feet,  the  name  most  holy — sanctissimus — by  which  they 
allowed   themselves  to  be  addressed,   Huss  stigmatized,  as 
Luther  did  a  hundred  years  later,  as  incompatible  withtheir   \x 
holy  office.^ 

The  origin  of  all  this  false  pomp  Huss  found,  as  Wyclif  did  - 
before  him,  in  the  donation  of  Constantine,  the  fictitious  gift 
passed  off  upon  credulous  Europe  by  the  pseudo-Isidorian 
Decretals  in  the  ninth  century  and  to  which  appeal  con- 
tinued to  be  made  down  to  Alexander  VI  in  his  bull  dis- 
tributing America  between  Spain  and  Portugal  "forever," 
and  later.  As  a  compensation  for  being  healed  of  leprosy 
by  Sylvester,  Constantine  bequeathed  to  that  pontiff  and 
his  successors  civil  rule  over  Rome  and  all  the  regions  of  the 
West  and  conferred  upon  them  the  crown  and  the  other 
insignia  of  temporal  lordship  and  glory.  This  imperial  gift, 
Wyclif  and  Huss  contended,  was  the  beginning  of  the  de-  • 
cline  of  the  church  from  its  pristine  purity,  and  modern — 
moderni — popes  and  cardinals  who  protruded  their  feet  to 
be  kissed  and  gloried  in  the  address  "most  holy"  did  not 
possess  a  scintilla  of  sanctity  and  utterly  lacked  the  power 

1  Pp.  62,  128,  also  Mon.,  i  :  229,  322,  328,  335,  339  sqq.,  343,  etc.;  Doc,  58, 
60,  etc.    The  term  antichrist  Huss  defined  as  "  one  who  acts  contrary  to  Christ." 

2  Chaps.  XIII,  XIV,  etc.;  Mon.,  322,  323,  etc.  Huss  nowhere  alluded  to 
the  divine  titles  assumed  by  Roman  emperors  such  as  "Lord  God"  by  Domi- 
tian  and  our  most  holy  lord — sacratissimus  dominus  noster — by  Diocletian. 


V 


V    s/' 


xviu  INTRODUCTION 

of  the  early  rulers  of  the  church,  so  that  the  demons  could 
say  of  them:  "Paul  I  know  and  Peter  I  know,  but  who  are 
you?"  With  Gregory  the  Great,  Huss  affirmed  that  the 
name  does  not  make  the  bishop  but  the  life.^ 

One  of  the  conclusions  drawn  in  this  treatise,  as  also  in 
other  treatises  from  Huss's  hand,  is  that  the  church  once 
got  along  very  well  without  popes.  And  she  might  get  along 
well  without  them  again.  Chapter  XV. 

A  second  conclusion  was  that  papal  decrees  are  not  al- 
ways to  be  obeyed.  To  rebel  against  an  erring  pope  Huss 
boldly  said  was  to  obey  God.  So  clear  and  emphatic  were 
Huss's  views  on  this  subject  that  Luther  declared  that  "Huss 
committed  no  more  atrocious  sin  than  to  profess  that  a  pope 
of  an  impious  Hfe  is  not  the  head  of  the  church  catholic. 
He  conceded  he  was  the  head  of  a  church,  but  not  of  the 
catholic  church.  Truly  he  ought  to  have  said:  *No  matter 
how  criminal  and  wicked  the  pontifex  maximus  is  yet  ought 
he  to  be  venerated  for  sanctity.  He  cannot  err  and  all  that 
he  says  and  does  is  to  be  accepted  and  treated  as  an  article 
of  the  faith.'  The  good  men  at  Constance  disposed  of  three 
wicked  popes  and  would  not  allow  them  to  be  taken  to  the 
fire:  but  Huss  was  sentenced  to  death."^ 

3.  The  Power  of  the  Keys.  Huss's  chief  statements  are 
as  follows:  The  Apostles,  as  has  already  been  said,  were  all 
the  immediate  vicars  of  Christ,  Peter's  authority  not  being 
universal  and  total  but  partial  and  particular.  Without 
recourse  to  Peter  the  remaining  Apostles  ordained  bishops 
and  presbyters,  taught  and  pastured.^  Thomas,  the  Apostle 
to  India,  was  not  appointed  by  Peter,  nor  was  Matthias. 


*  Pp.  143,  153,  also  Mon.,  i  :  320,  383,  etc.;  Doc,  291,  etc.  In  this  connec- 
tion we  easily  think  of  Thomas  Aquinas  who,  visiting  the  pope,  was  shown  the 
treasures  of  the  Vatican  with  the  words:  "See,  Thomas,  Peter  could  no  more 
say,  'Silver  and  gold  have  I  none'";  to  which  Thomas  replied:  "Nor  could 
he  now  say,  'Rise  upon  thy  feet  and  walk.'" 

*  Preface  to  Huss's  writings,  1537. 

»Pp.  82,  no,  also  Mon.,  i  :  345,  353,  356,  etc. 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

James  presided  as  a  superior  over  the  conclave  at  Jerusalem 
and  Paul  required  no  human  license — sine  licentia — to  preach 
and  to  rule. 

Not  only  all  bishops  but  all  presbyters  are  successors  of 
the  Apostles,  as  originally  the  church  was  governed  by  pres- 
byters. For  this  view  Huss  quoted  Jerome's  famous  state- 
ment.^ 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  Middle  Ages  the 
episcopate  was  not  looked  upon  as  a  distinct  order.  The 
three  orders,  according  to  Thomas  Aquinas,  were  the  sub- 
deacon,  deacon  and  priest. 

The  keys  were  conferred  upon  the  church.  Matt.  i8  :  17, 
18,  and  in  binding  and  loosing,  Peter  acted  as  a  representa- 
tive of  the  church.  The  church  is  the  final  tribunal.  In 
giving  the  power  to  Peter,  Christ  gave  it  in  his  person  to 
every  presbyter  whatsoever.^ 

Priestly  acts  of  all  kinds  are  invalid  except  as  the  priest's 
hfe  is  conformed  to  Christ's  law.^  No  one  has  ever  more 
clearly  laid  stress  on  the  necessity  of  purity  of  life  to  the 
clerical  ofi&ce  than  Huss. 

The  power  of  the  keys,  or  of  remitting  sins  and  retaining 
them,  is  a  declaratory  power  such  as  the  priest  under  the  old 
dispensation  exercised  in  pronouncing  the  leper  clean  and  as 
the  disciples  exercised  in  loosing  Lazarus,  John  11  :  44.  The 
priest  did  not  make  the  leper  clean  nor  did  the  disciples  re- 
lease Lazarus  from  the  bonds  of  death.  Neither  pope  nor 
priest  can  absolve  from  sin  except  where  God  has  before* 
absolved.  As  Huss  said  in  his  attack  against  John  XXIII's 
bulls,  the  pope's  act  in  absolving  is  nothing  more  than  the 
announcement  of  a  herald— factum  papoe  ad  maximum  non  est 
nisi  prceconis  Dei  promulgatio.^    Peter  bade   Simon  Magus 

'P.  155. 

*  Chap.  X,  Ckristus  dicil  Petro  et  in  persona  ejus  cuicunque  suo  presbytero: 
quodcunque  solveris,  etc.,  ad  octo  doctores,  Mon.,  i  :  387. 

3  Pp.  47-50,  also  Mon.,  i  :  378,  383,  387  sq.,  392,  etc. 

*  Mon.,  I  :  227,  also  228,  378,  392.    This  treatise,  p.  loi  sqq. 


k/ 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

call  upon  the  Lord  for  indulgence  which  he  could  not  himself 
grant. 

In  his  Commentary  on  the  Sentences  of  the  Lombard  Huss 
presents  substantially  the  same  view  that  he  presents  in  this 
treatise  and  the  cognate  writings,  but  not  so  boldly.  There, 
he  says,  no  one  can  be  excommunicated  unless  he  is  first 

V  excommunicated  by  himself  and  except  he  offends  against 
Christ's  law.^  In  his  treatise  on  The  Six  Errors,  Huss  quotes 
Peter  the  Lombard  to  show  that  the  remission  by  a  priest  is 
a  different  thing  from  remission  by  God  who  remits  of  Him- 
self, purifying  the  soul  of  guilt  and  loosing  it  from  the  debt 
of  eternal  death.  Did  the  pope  possess  the  power  of  the 
keys  in  the  way  generally  supposed,  as  a  thing  of  his  own, 
then  he  might  empty  purgatory  itself,  and,  if  he  neglected 
to  do  so,  he  would  be  guilty  of  ill-will  or  indifference.  On 
the  question  of  absolution  Huss  is  most  emphatic,  and  he 
restates  his  views  again  and  again.  No  saint,  he  says,  could 
be  found  who  had  the  presumption  to  say:  *'I  have  forgiven 
thee  thy  sins,"  or  "I  have  absolved  thee."^    With  Wyclif, 

/  and  upon  the  basis  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  Huss  said  that  in  a 

real  sense  every  Christian  has  the  right  to  absolve. 
.  The  two  keys  which  are  put  into  the  hands  of  the  church 

are  knowledge  and  authority.  The  chief  power  given  to  the 
Apostles  and  their  successors  was  to  preach  or  evangelize. 
No  prelatic  authority  has  the  right  to  inhibit  one  ordained 
from  preaching  the  Gospel  any  more  than  it  has  the  right 
to  prohibit  the  giving  of  alms.  As  for  the  use  of  the  prerog- 
ative to  censure,  Huss  insisted  that  it  should  be  exercised 
sparingly.    Christ  did  not  call  down  fire  from  heaven  on  the 

1  Pp.,  607,  610. 

2  Pp.  103,  106,  also  Mon.,  i  :  229,  232,  239,  etc.  Wyclif  declared  that  un- 
just excommunication  was  worse  than  the  murder  of  the  body,  de  Eccles.,p.  153. 
In  the  course  of  his  treatment  of  this  subject,  Huss  gives  an  exposition  of  Jer. 
I  :  10,  the  famous  passage  which  Gregory  VII  was  wont  to  use  for  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  papal  power  over  the  civil.  Ad  oclo  doctores,  Mon.,  i  :  391.  In 
this  treatise  Huss  elaborated  at  greatest  length  the  subject  of  the  keys,  Mon., 
I  :  385  sqq. 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

Samaritan  city.     By  tears  and  prayers  and  Christian  minis-  v'' 
tries    should    the    supreme    pontiff   and   priests   fulfil    their 
ofl5ce.^ 

Along  the  same  line  of  curbing  the  assumptions  of  the 
priesthood,  Huss  insists  in  this  treatise  upon  the  right  of  in- 
feriors, including  laymen,  to  examine  the  mandates  of  the 
clergy  and  ecclesiastical  superiors  before  giving  them  heed. 
Even  the  civil  realm  has  the  right  to  punish  priests  and  to 
remove  them  from  their  offices  as  did,  so  Huss  affirms, 
Charles  IV,  king  of  Bohemia,  and  as  Titus  and  Vespasian  at 
God's  command  had  done  in  destroying  Jerusalem  and  the 
priests.2 

4.  The  Scriptures.  They  are  the  supreme  rule  of  faith 
and  conduct.  This  treatise  and  all  Huss's  writings  abound 
in  Scripture  quotations.  A  charge  made  against  him  by 
Stephen  Palecz  was  that  more  than  any  neretic  before  him, 
he  had  fortified  his  heresies  by  appeals  to  the  sacred  volume.^ 
Huss  expressed  his  hope  to  die  in  the  faith,  but  also  that  at 
the  great  judgment  bar  he  might  be  found  not  to  have  denied 
a  single  iota  of  their  contents.*  Charged  with  following 
Wyclif,  he  replied  that  if  he  accepted  Wyclif's  statements, 
it  was  because  they  were  drawn  from  the  Scriptures,  The 
holy  volume,  he  maintained,  is  a  book  of  life,  an  animate 
thing.  The  priest's  main  duty  is  to  set  forth  its  truths  and, 
in  being  true  to  it,  it  is  not  possible  to  incur  damnation 

*  Chap.  XXI,  also  Mon.,  i  :  220,  389,  etc. 

^  Mon.,  I  :  170,  etc.  So  far  as  I  know,  Huss  nowhere  took  up  the  case  of 
the  emperor  Trajan,  a  topic  of  constant  discussion  in  the  Middle  Ages,  in  which 
Wyclif  also  joined.  According  to  the  story,  Trajan  was  prayed  by  Gregory  the 
Great  out  of  hell  into  heaven,  the  only  pagan  to  get  to  the  abode  of  bliss.  The 
solemn  question  was  whether  he  had  gone  direct  to  heaven  as  John  of  Damascus 
claimed,  or  whether  he  first  was  brought  back  to  the  earth  in  order  to  be  bap- 
tized, then  dying  over  again  before  being  taken  up  to  the  abode  of  the  blessed 
as  Thomas  Aquinas,  Durandus,  and  others  asserted.  Wyclif,  de  Eccles.,  531 
sqq.,  accepted  the  story  but  was  concerned  to  show  that  Trajan's  going  to 
heaven  was  by  virtue  of  predestination.  Bellarmine,  de  Purg.,  2  :  8,  discusses 
the  subject. 

2  See  SchafF,  Life  of  Huss,  p.  140. 

*Mon..  I  :  .^25,  330,  335;  Doc,  293,  319,  etc. 


xxii  INTRODUCTION 

through   any  prelatical   command. ^     Huss's  own   following 
was  called  the  evangelical  clergy — clerus  evangelicus} 

In  repeated  discussions,  Huss  made  the  clear  distinction 
between  apostolic  commands,  as  contained  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  papal  mandates.  No  bidding  is  obligatory  which  is  not 
distinctly  based  on  the  Scripture — prceter  expressam  scrip- 
turam — and,  where  usage  and  Scripture  disagree,  usage  is  to 
be  set  aside.  In  deciding  what  the  Scriptures  teach,  reason 
is  to  be  employed.  But  the  safest  refuge  of  the  church,  Huss 
declared,  is  no  human  authority  but  the  Holy  Spirit.^ 

In  view  of  these  positions  on  the  supreme  authority  of 
Scripture  and  the  right  of  individual  judgment,  Bishop  Hefele 
rightly  declares  that  Huss  was  fully  out  of  accord  with  the 
Catholic  church  and  a  true  precursor  of  the  Reformation.* 

5.  To  these  fundamental  principles  Huss,  in  this  treatise, 
adds  another  in  which  he  also  took  solemn  issue  with  the  prac- 
tice and  the  theory  of  the  mediaeval  church,— the  death 
penalty  for  heresy.  He  calls  it  the  "sanguinary  corollary." 
In  repudiating  it,  Chapter  XVI,  he  was  setting  himself  against 
Innocent  HI  and  the  great  pontiffs  who  came  after  him  and 
also  against  the  theological  statement  of  the  Schoolmen.  The 
execution  of  religious  dissenters  was  begun  in  385  with  the 
death  of  the  Priscillianists  at  Treves.  Fathers  of  the  ancient 
church  exhausted  the  dictionary  for  severe  words  to  stigma- 
tize heretics.  Athanasius  called  them  dogs,  wolves  and 
worse.  When  ecclesiastical  dissent  reappeared  in  Western 
Europe  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  words,  "compel  them  to 
come  in,"  which  St.  Augustine  used  to  justify  physical  mea- 
sures to  coerce  the  Donatists,  were  explained  to  justify  the 
putting  of  dissenters  out  of  the  world.  They  were  likened 
to  scabby  sheep  and  to  the  locusts  of  Joel  hidden  in  the 
dust.    Heresy  was  a  cancer  to  be  cut  out  by  the  extermina- 

^  Especially  chap.  XVI,  also  Mon.,  i  :  326,  327,  331;  Doc,  297,  etc. 

^  Mon.,  I  :  331, 

'  PPm  71,  163;  Mon.,  I  :  354  sq. 

*  Schafif ,  Life  of  Huss,  284,  297. 


INTRODUCTION  xxiii 

tion  of  the  heretic.  Innocent  III  set  on  foot  the  organized 
crusades  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy  with  the  sword  in 
Southern  France.  Thomas  Aquinas,  d.  1274,  made  the  sol- 
emn statement  that  as  coin-clippers,  who  offend  against  the 
majesty  of  the  state,  are  put  to  death,  so  heretics,  who 
offend  against  the  church,  deserve  to  be  put  out  of  the 
world. 

This  principle  was  incorporated  in  the  civil  codes  of  the 
Schwabenspiegel  and  Sachsenspiegel  and  in  the  laws  of  Fred- 
erick II  who  proscribed  death  in  the  flames  for  heretics.  In 
accordance  with  the  old  axiom  that  the  church  does  not  de- 
sire blood — ecdesiam  non  sitit  sanguinem — it  did  not  of  itself 
execute  the  death  sentence.  However,  it  was  participant  in 
the  execution,  for  it  threatened  civil  magistrates  with  severest 
spiritual  penalties  who  hesitated  to  execute  it.  Gregory  IX 
demanded  from  the  Roman  senator  a  promise  to  search  out 
heretics  and  to  put  them  to  death  within  eight  days  of  their 
condemnation  by  the  ecclesiastical  tribunal.  Louis  IX,  in 
France,  and  parhament  by  its  act  of  1401,  in  England,  in- 
troduced the  law  of  death.  The  horrors  of  the  system  of 
torture  were  authorized  by  Innocent  IV,  the  successor  of 
Gregory  IX.  Later,  it  remained  for  Sixtus  IV  in  1478  to 
open  the  second  volume  in  the  history  of  the  horrors  of  the 
mediaeval  inquisition  by  sanctioning  the  holy  office  of 
Spain.^ 

Thus,  by  papal  assumption  and  scholastic  definition  and 
state  legislation,  the  claim  was  made  to  the  awful  power  of 
shutting  up  dissenters  eternally  in  hell  and  of  depriving  them 
of  life  on  the  earth. 

In  opposing  this  usage,  Huss  appealed  to  the  example  of 
Christ  and  the  purpose  of  the  Gospel.  Christ  did  not  as- 
sume civil  authority.     He  refused  the  title  of  king.    He  did 

1  Lord  Acton  says  of  Pius  V  that  "  he  held  that  it  was  sound  Catholic  doc- 
trine that  any  man  may  stab  a  heretic  condemned  by  Rome,  and  that  every 
man  is  a  heretic  who  attacks  the  papal  prerogatives,"  Letters  oj  Lord  Acton  to 
Mary  Gladstone,  p.  135. 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION 

not  wish  that  men  should  be  put  to  death — nee  voluit  civiliter 
judicare  nee  morte  corporis  eondemnare  voluit}  It  is  true  that 
before  d'Ailly  and  the  commission  at  Constance  Huss  modi- 
fied this  statement,  declaring  that  the  suspected  heretic 
should  be  labored  with  and  instructed  and  only  then,  if  neces- 
sary, punished  corporally.  As  thus  modified,  the  statement 
started  a  tumult  among  those  present.  And,  when  Huss 
went  on  to  say  that  the  priests  and  scribes  who  delivered 
Christ  to  Pilate  had  the  greater  sin,  the  tumult  was  repeated. 
It  is  possible  that  Huss  was  moved  by  the  sufferings  he  was 
undergoing  to  make  this  modification,  but  exactly  what  he 
meant  is  not  clear.^ 

In  his  attack  against  John  XXIII's  bulls  calling  for  the 
crusade  against  Ladislaus,  he  repudiated  the  right  of  a  pon- 
tiff to  call  for  war  against  Christians  in  the  absence  of  a 
special  coramand  from  God.  He  denied  the  application  of 
the  cases  of  the  Old  Testament  and  Sapphira  to  Christian 
officials  in  the  ordinary  exercise  of  their  authority.  Only  an 
express  command  from  above  would  justify  the  use  of  the 
death  penalty.  Nor  is  torture  to  be  applied  to  Christians. 
When  Christ  wished  to  defend  himself  against  his  enemies, 
he  "meekly  bore  their  attacks  and  did  good  to  his  detrac- 
tors," an  example  priests  should  follow.  By  word  and  ex- 
ample Christ  commended  peace — ad  paeem  dueit  verba  et 
exemplo? 

In  dealing  with  Augustine's  use  of  the  passage  "compel 
them  to  come  in,"  Huss  affirmed  that  it  is  one  thing  to  compel 
and  quite  another  to  exterminate  or  kill.  The  death  penalty 
for  heretics  was  never  expressly  recommended  by  Augustine, 
and  it  is  probable  that  Huss  more  nearly  represented  the  views 
and  spirit  of  the  African  Father  than  did  the  Schoolmen 
and  the  council  of  Constance.  The  armor  of  the  church, 
Huss  insisted,  is  not  carnal  but  spiritual  as  set  forth  in  the 

^P.  170.  ^Doc,  294. 

*  Mon.,  I  :  395,  also  393,  394,  397,  etc.,  and  chap.  XXI  of  this  treatise. 


INTRODUCTION  xxv 

last  chapter  of  the  Ephesians,  a  passage  he  frequently  ex- 
pounded.^ 

Indeed,  heresy  has  its  uses,  and  heretics  are  to  be  re- 
claimed to  Christ's  sheepfold  by  methods  of  persuasion,  so 
Huss  affirmed.  As  for  himself,  he  professed  that  excommu- 
nication and  the  harshest  treatment  are  rather  to  be  chosen 
than  a  pretended  absolution  from  guilt  and  punishment,  for 
he  is  more  likely  to  be  absolved  from  guilt  and  punishment 
who,  in  God's  cause,  suffers  malediction  and  contumely  even 
unto  death,  than  he  who  prevaricates  to  himself  or  persecutes 
Christians.'^ 

Thus,  a  hundred  years  before  Luther  wrote  his  famous 
words  against  the  burning  of  heretics,  Huss  took  the  same 
position.  But,  so  far  as  we  know,  there  was  not  a  single 
individual  in  the  great  council  of  Constance  who  had  any 
sympathy  with  the  views  of  the  Bohemian  heretic.  Nay, 
the  council  went  further  than  to  bum  Huss:  it  supplemented 
its  verdict  by  a  solemn  declaration  that  faith  is  not  to  be 
kept  with  a  heretic.  The  pity  is  that  Bullinger — in  the 
Second  Helvetic  Confession,  John  Calvin  and  other  leaders 
of  the  emancipation  of  the  sixteenth  century  did  not  fully 
conform  to  the  principle  set  forth  by  Huss  and  Luther  and 
shake  themselves  free  from  the  method  of  the  inquisition 
practised  by  our  religious  ancestors  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

These  fundamental  principles,  in  regard  to  the  church, 
the  papal  office,  the  keys  and  the  Scriptures,  for  which 
Huss  stood  were  adapted  to  shake  the  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion of  his  day  to  its  very  foundations.  The  council  of 
Constance  when  it  stated  them  in  its  thirty  charges  fully 
appreciated  the  grave  menace.  Had  that  solemn  assembly 
accepted  Huss's  principles  it  would  have  set  aside  the  con- 
struction built  up  by  the  pride  of  the  mediasval  hierarchy 
and  the  laborious  reasoning  of  the  Schoolmen. 
.       IV.    Huss's  Debt  to  Wyclef.    The  leading  principles 

^Mon.,  I  :  405,  etc.  *P.  25;  Mon.,  i  :  234,  393. 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION 

set  forth  in  his  Treatise  on  the  Church,  Huss  found  in  the 
writings  of  Wyclif  and  particularly  in  WycUf's  treatise  on 
the  same  subject.  Not  only  has  he  the  main  principles  in 
common  with  Wyclif,  and  also  many  of  his  quotations  from 
v^  the  Fathers  and  the  canon  law  and  his  proofs  from  Scrip- 
ture. Huss  appropriated  paragraph  after  paragraph  from  his 
predecessor  and  transferred  them  often  with  little  verbal 
change  to  his  own  pages.  The  agreement  has  been  convinc- 
ingly shown  by  Loserth,  who  prints  the  corresponding  para- 
graphs side  by  side.  It  is  not  necessary  here  to  repeat  what 
he  has  done.^ 

Huss's  reverend  respect  for  Wyclif  has  already  been  indi- 
cated. Whereas  Stephen  Palecz,  Stanislaus  of  Znaim  and 
other  theological  colleagues,  who  at  first  shared  his  admira- 
tion for  the  English  teacher,  came  to  regard  his  teaching  as 
honeyed  poison — mellatum  venenum — Huss  continued  to  bow 
before  him  as  the  "master  of  deep  thoughts."  And  it  was 
for  WycHf's  doctrines  and,  in  a  sense,  in  his  stead  he  died  at 
Constance.2 

The  recent  publication  of  Wyclif's  works  beginning  with 
1883,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Wyclif  society,  has  made 
possible  a  full  estimate  of  the  obligation  which  Huss  owed 
to  his  EngHsh  predecessor.  Up  to  that  date  only  a  compara- 
tively small  number  of  his  writings,  English  as  well  as 
Latin,  were  in  print,  and  WycUf's  Treatise  on  the  Church 
appeared  for  the  first  time,  1886.  In  the  light  of  WycHf's 
printed  text,  the  theory  advocated  at  length  by  Neander 
that  Huss  was  indebted  to  Matthias  of  Janow  for  his  view 
on  the  authority  of  Scripture  and  other  topics  is  found  to  be 
wholly  without  foundation.  And,  in  fact,  nowhere  does  Huss 
express  any  debt  to  that  writer  of  Prague  who,  by  the  way, 
recanted  his  views  which  were  pronounced  erroneous.    Never 

*  Wiclif  and  Hus,  181-225.    The  two  sources  upon  which  Huss  drew  were 
Wyclif's  de  Ecclesia  and  his  de  potestate  Papa,  ed.  by  Loserth,  1907. 

*  Mon.,  I  :  331, 334, 335,  etc.  For  a  larger  statement  of  Huss's  debt  to  Wyclif, 
see  Schaff,  Lije  oj  Huss,  chap.  III. 


INTRODUCTION  xxvii 

did  a  man  owe  more  to  mortal  teacher  than  Huss  did  to  John 
Wyclif.^  In  the  fundamental  doctrines  concerning  the  pre- 
destinate, the  church,  the  papacy,  the  power  of  the  keys 
and  the  authority  of  the  Bible  Huss  agrees  exactly  with  his 
predecessor.^  They  are  one  in  their  denunciation  of  Boniface 
VIII's  bull,  Unam  sanctam,  and  of  Constantine's  donation. 
All  the  reformatory — and  we  may  say  revolutionary — 
principles  affirmed  by  the  former  will  be  found  in  Wyclif. 

However,  Huss  was  not  a  servile  imitator  of  Wyclif  and 
it  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  his  opponents  in  Prague 
to  twit  him  on  the  use  he  made  of  Wyclif's  writings.  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  from  no  other  source  outside 
the  pages  of  Scripture  could  Huss  have  learned  what  he  came 
to  believe  as  from  the  pages  of  Wyclif.  Reading  him  was 
like  taking  clear  water  from  a  vessel  filled  at  a  spring  re- 
discovered. And,  it  must  be  remembered,  that  Huss  had  no 
sooner  left  the  university  than  he  found  himself  in  an 
atmosphere  charged  with  the  controversial  spirit,  himself 
the  chief  figure. 

To  these  considerations  the  following  must  also  be  taken 
into  account.  Instead  of  transferring  to  his  pages  paragraphs 
from  Wyclif  bodily,  Huss  might  easily  have  introduced  into 
them  words  of  his  own  or  taken  the  meaning  and  re-expressed 
it  in  his  own  language.  That  he  did  not  pursue  this  method 
is  evidence  that  he  had  no  intention  of  using  the  garments 
of  his  great  teacher  to  make  a  reputation  for  himself.  He 
was  ready  to  die  for  his  convictions  and  in  this  treatise  the 
chief  consideration  was  to  give  the  most  forcible  expression 
possible  to  the  views  he  and  Wyclif  were  known  to  hold  in 

» A  succinct  and  authoritative  statement  of  the  extent  to  which  Wyclif's 
writings  were  put  into  print  before  1883  may  be  found  in  Loserth's  thorough 
article  on  Wyclif  in  the  German  Herzog,  21  :  225  sq.  With  that  year  the 
printing  of  the  Latin  writings  was  begun.  The  Trialogus,  however,  which 
gives  Wyclif's  distinctive  views  was  published  in  Basel,  1525.  The  English 
writings  had  been  gathered  by  two  editors,  Thomas  Arnold,  1869-71,  3  vols., 
and  F.  D.  Mathew,  1880,  i  vol. 

«See  Schaff,  Ch.  Hist.,  V,  part  2  :  325-349. 


xxviii  INTRODUCTION 

common.  The  chief  weapon  of  attack  against  him  was 
Wyclif's  system  as  set  forth  in  the  XLV  Articles,  condemned 
by  ecclesiastical  authority  and  recently  by  the  eight  doctors 
to  whom  he  was  replying. 

The  materials,  taken  from  Wyclif,  are  under  Huss's  hand 
subjected  to  altogether  new  collocations,  and  in  matters  of 
detail,  where  we  would  expect  Huss  to  have  drawn  from  his 
predecessor,  he  does  not.  For  example,  he  does  not  repeat 
WycHf's  use  of  the  ark  and  the  seamless  coat  of  Christ  as 
figures  for  the  unity  of  the  church  nor  make  reference  to 
Solomon  and  the  temple.  Nor  does  he  introduce  David  at 
the  side  of  Peter  as  an  example  of  one  who  is  predestinate  and 
yet  is  lacking  for  a  time  in  righteousness.  Huss  omits  many 
of  the  authors  quoted  by  Wyclif  such  as  Bradwardine,  Henry 
of  Cauda  and,  as  already  stated,  Bonaventura.  There  is 
evidence,  as  Schwab  long  ago  suggested,  that  Huss  was  well 
read  in  the  canon  law  and  used  it  independently.  As  for 
Augustine,  Loserth  has  expressed  the  opinion  that  Huss 
knew  his  copy  well.  With  Luther,  at  a  later  time,  he  felt 
profound  respect  for  this  father's  theological  learning  and 
piety.  In  this  treatise  he  designates  Augustine  now  the 
"holy  man"  now  the  "great  doctor"  and  pronounced  him 
the  foremost  of  biblical  expositors,  the  man  who  was  more 
profitable  to  the  church  than  many  popes. ^  As  for  materials 
from  Scripture  Huss's  treatise  contains  much  that  Wyclif 
does  not  give  as  also  fresh  considerations  from  reason.  His 
references  to  Christ,  whom  he  frequently  calls  "the  best  of 
masters"  will  at  times  be  found  to  be  charged  with  true 
eloquence  as  well  as  piety. 

If  it  were  necessary  to  point  to  the  custom  of  his  age  to 
justify  Huss's  procedure,  the  cases  of  John  Gerson  and 
Cardinal  d'Ailly  might  be  cited.  Gerson,  rector  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Paris,  without  making  acknowledgment,  appro- 
priated a  considerable  part  of  one  of  Henry  of  Langenstein's 

»  Pp.,  78,  149,  IS4,  201. 


INTRODUCTION  xxk 

works  and  d'Ailly  pursued  the  same  method  with  Ockam's 
Dialogus.^ 

Huss's  Commentary  on  the  Sentences  of  Peter  the  Lombard, 
recently  published  in  a  volume  of  eight  hundred  pages,  has 
re-established  the  author's  claims  to  be  a  sane  and  well- 
balanced  theological  student.  Here  he  expresses  himself 
independently  and  shows  himself  conversant  with  those 
phases  of  theological  thought  which  were  a  subject  of  special 
discussion  in  his  day  as  well  as  with  the  fundamental  catholic 
principles  .2 

Comparing  the  two  treatises  on  the  church  along  gen- 
eral lines  this  may  be  said: 

Huss  is  the  more  clear  and  direct  of  the  two  writers.  Much 
as  he  seems  to  repeat  himself,  he  nevertheless  pursues  a  defi- 
nite aim.  Wyclif,  as  was  his  custom,  was  drawn  aside  by  the 
exuberance  of  his  intellect  into  all  sorts  of  discussions  ger- 
mane and  not  strictly  germane.  His  treatise  has  extended 
paragraphs  on  canonization,  mathematics,  alms,  relic  worship, 
the  evils  of  ecclesiastical  endowments.^  He  shows  his  scholas- 
tic bent  by  that  peculiar  use  of  Latin  terminology  charac- 
teristic of  mediaeval  scholasticism.  Although  Huss  employs 
some  of  Wyclif's  characteristic  words,  as  antonomasia,  yet 
he  is  comparatively  free  in  this  respect.^ 

1  Schwab,  /.  Gerson,  p.  121,  says  that  Gerson's  Dedaratio  compendiosa, 
etc.,  Du  Pin,  2  :  314-318,  is  a  literal  copy — wortlich — of  chapters  XVI-XX 
of  Langenstein's  Consilium  pacis  de  unione  et  reform,  eccles.  Tschackert, 
P.  d'Ailli,  p.  43,  says  of  d'Ailly  that  he  copied  Ockam  almost  literally— /asi 
wortlich. 

2  Flajshans,  Super  IV.  Sententiarum,  Prague,  1905.  In  his  Introduction 
Flajshans,  a  liberal  Catholic,  pronounces  Huss  Bohemia's  chief  religious  char- 
acter. On  the  appearance  of  this  work  Loserth  declared  that  his  former  judg- 
ment disparaging  Huss's  originality  would  have  to  be  revised. 

^  De  Eccles.,  44sqq.,  gj  sqq.,  162  sqq.,  274  sqq.,  465^??-  In  saying  this, 
however,  the  occasion  which  led  to  the  composition  of  Wyclif's  work  must 
be  taken  into  account,  that  is  the  case  of  alleged  sacrilege  committed  in  West- 
minster Abbey.     See  Loserth's  Introd.  to  his  ed. 

*See  the  glossary  in  Wyclif's  de  dom.  civ.,  ed.  by  Poole,  pp.  479-483.  Of 
the  one  hundred  and  fifty-nine  words  there  given,  Huss  seems  to  use  only 
seven  in  his  de  Eccles. 


XXX  INTRODUCTION 

We  come  now  to  the  temper  in  which  the  two  works  are 
written  as  indicated  by  particular  statements  as  well  as  the 
general  drift.  Huss  is  much  less  severe  in  his  judgments  of 
individuals  than  is  Wyclif.  The  latter  called  Gregory  XI  a 
terrible  devil — hbrrendus  diaholus — and  blessed  God  for 
bringing  him  to  his  death  when  He  did.  The  cardinals  he 
stigmatized  as  the  very  synagogue  and  nest  of  Satan  and  a 
nest  of  heretics.^ 

At  times,  in  his  English  writings,  he  calls  the  pope  the 
vicar  of  the  fiend — the  devil.  Huss  joins  with  Wyclif  in 
saying  that  it  might  be  well  to  get  along  without  a  pope, 
though  not  in  such  strong  language,  but  nowhere  uses  such 
an  expression  as  Wyclif  s,  enormous  pride  of  the  Western 
church — monstruosa  superbia  ecclesics  occidentalis — or  plainly 
denounces  the  last  clause  of  Boniface's  bull  as  to  be  detested.^ 
Nor  did  Huss  in  his  treatise  directly  repudiate  the  authority 
of  church  teachers  such  as  Thomas  Aquinas  and  Bonaventura, 
as  Wyclif  did,  although,  as  his  pages  show,  he  put  strange  in- 
terpretations on  some  of  the  statements  of  the  canon  law  and 
seems  to  have  been  at  times  under  the  constraint  of  usage 
in  clinging  to  those  statements  rather  than  of  conviction. 

Huss,  in  other  words,  was  much  less  severe  in  his  judg- 
ment of  individuals  and  more  moderate  in  his  language  than 
his  predecessor.  Wyclif  used  a  sharp  blade  and  sometimes 
the  acrimony  of  the  pamphleteer.  The  Bohemian  carried 
to  his  desk  the  homiletic  instinct  of  the  preacher  addressing 
an  audience  whose  welfare  he  held  in  mind.  The  one  was 
governed  somewhat  by  the  love  of  the  truth  as  a  matter  of 
intellectual  determination;  the  other  altogether  by  the  love 
of  the  truth  as  a  practical  force  in  daily  life. 

In  his  last  months  in  prison,  Huss  definitely  accepted  the 
distribution  of  the  cup  to  the  laity  and  exclaimed  against 
the  impiety  of  the  council's  act  when  it  threatened  every 
priest  with  the  ban  who  dared  to  distribute  it.    On  the  other 

1  De  Ecdes.,  88,  i86,  358,  366.  ^  Wyclif,  de  Eccles.,  38,  362. 


INTRODUCTION  xxxi 

hand,  he  did  not  adopt  Wyclif's  doctrine  of  the  eucharist 
but  to  the  end  insisted  that  he  was  wrongly  charged  with 
denying  the  church's  dogma  of  transubstantiation. 

V.  Importance.  Huss's  treatise  has  a  place  of  first 
importance  among  works  on  the  church.  Its  treatment  is 
clear,  elaborate  and  professedly  based  on  Scripture.  It  is 
the  best  known  work  on  the  subject  issued  from  Augus- 
tine to  the  Reformation  period.  It  was  the  basis  of  charges 
in  the  most  famous  formal  trial  of  a  single  individual  in  the 
history  of  the  Christian  church.^  It  was  cherished  and  used 
by  a  large  section  of  the  Bohemian  people.  It  has  had  a 
permanent  influence  upon  the  development  of  the  idea  of 
the  church. 

Upon  the  council  assembled  at  Constance  Huss's  vol- 
ume made  a  deep  impression  as  a  work  calculated  to  be 
disastrous  in  its  effects,  unless  counteracted  by  the  severest 
measures  within  the  church's  reach.  One  of  its  foremost 
leaders,  that  eminent  man  Cardinal  d'Ailly,  who  had  prob- 
ably more  to  do  than  any  other  man  of  the  council  with  Huss, 
declared  that  by  an  abundance  of  proofs  Huss's  treatise  com- 
bated the  plenary  authority  of  the  church  as  much  as  the 
Koran  combats  Christ.^ 

Wyclif's  Treatise  on  the  Church  was  hidden  away  in  man- 
uscript until  a  generation  ago.  His  followers  at  Oxford,  soon 
after  his  death,  repudiated  his  views.  His  name  was  a  mem- 
ory except  as  his  English  version  of  the  Bible  was  read  in 
narrowing  groups  of  Lollards.  That  memory,  indeed,  was 
powerful,  for  the  early  Protestant  Reformers  looked  back  to 
him  and  Tyndale  wrote:  "They  said  it  in  WycUf's  day  and 
the  hypocrites  say  it  now,  that  God's  Word  arouseth  in- 

il  do  not  forget  the  trials  of  Abaelard,  Savonarola,  etc.  Arius's  views, 
rather  than  Arius  himself,  were  on  trial  at  the  council  of  Nice,  though  Arius 
became  personally  involved,  being  restored,  however,  after  he  had  been  ban- 
ished and  his  books  burned.  Of  course,  Savonarola's  trial  lacked  the  imposing 
element  involved  in  the  trial  of  Huss,  an  oecumenical  council. 

'  Du  Pin,  Works  of  Gerson,  2  :  901. 


xxxii  INTRODUCTION 

surrection."  ^  And  Bishop  Tonstall,  writing  to  Erasmus, 
1524,  said  that  the  new  views  were  "not  a  question  of  some 
pernicious  novelty,  but  only  that  new  arms  were  being  added 
to  the  great  band  of  Wyclifite  heretics." 

But  what  Wyclif's  Bible  was  to  the  small  company  of 
dissenters  in  England,  Huss's  Treatise  on  the  Church  was 
to  the  large  body  of  Bohemians  who  respected  Huss's  memory 
and  followed,  in  part  or  in  whole,  his  views. 

In  Luther's  time,  Huss's  name  and  also  his  treatise  were 
a  live  power.  As  for  his  treatise,  a  copy  of  it  was  sent  by 
Hussites  to  the  German  Reformer  on  the  ground  that  he  and 
Huss  were  agreed  and,  in  1520,  an  edition  was  printed  in 
Mainz  by  Ulrich  von  Hutten.^  Wyclif  was  not  quoted  by 
the  Reformers.    They  knew  him  through  Huss. 

The  ancient  church  produced  two  writers  on  the  spe- 
cific topic  of  the  church,  Cyprian  and  Augustme.  The  Unity 
of  the  Church  written  by  the  bishop  of  Carthage,  though 
small  in  compass,  is  of  much  importance  for  its  view  of  the 
episcopate.  Augustine,  in  the  controversy  with  the  Donatist 
dissenters,  furnished  material  of  great  moment  for  the  defi- 
nition of  the  church  without  giving  a  succinct  definition.^ 
The  nearest  approach  to  it  were  his  statements  that  the 
church  is  the  holy  body  of  all  the  faithful,  to  be  saved — 
sancta  cong.  omnium  fidelium  salvandorum — and  the  body  of 
the  faithful  who  are  elect  and  justified — fidelium  predestina- 
torum  et  justificatorum^  The  term  catholic,  or  universal, 
first  used  by  Ignatius,  was  employed  by  these  Fathers  in  con- 
formity with  the  usage  which  had  become  general. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  the  topic  was  not  a  matter  of 
special  treatment.  The  ideas  of  Augustine  were  not  ques- 
tioned that  baptism  is  essential  to  salvation  and  that  all 

^  Preface  to  Exposition  of  St.  John,  Parker  ed.,  p.  225. 

*  Under  the  title  de  unitate  Ecdesia  cujus  autor  periit  in  concilio  Constantiensi. 
For  the  influence  of  Huss's  name  and  death  upon  Luther,  see  Schaff,  Life  of 
Htiss,  pp.  291  sqq. 

» See  Loofs,  Dogmengesch.,  4th  ed.,  p.  370.      *  P.  36,  Super  IV.  Sent.,  616. 


INTRODUCTION  xxxiii 

those,  not  in  communion  with  the  visible  church,  are  lost. 
The  church  was  looked  upon  as  a  tangible,  palpable  institu- 
tion, as  much  so  as  the  duchy  of  Spoleto  or  the  kingdom  of 
France.  The  Schoolman,  who  came  nearest  giving  a  defini- 
tion, was  Hugo  of  St.  Victor  who,  in  his  work  on  the  sacra- 
ments, called  the  holy  catholic  church  the  body  of  Christ 
vivified  by  one  Spirit,  united  in  one  faith  and  sanctified.  It 
is  the  number  of  the  faithful,  the  totality  of  all  Christians.^ 
Thomas  Aquinas  passed  it  by  except  as  he  discussed  the 
pope's  absolute  supremacy.  The  fourth  Lateran  indeed 
spoke  of  the  church  as  "the  one  imiversal  church  of  the 
faithful  outside  of  which  there  cannot  be  any  salvation" — 
extra  quam  nullus  omnino  salvatur — a  statement  which  nar- 
rowed the  church  down  to  the  limits  of  the  Roman  communion 
in  the  profession  demanded  of  the  Waldenses,  namely,  "we 
believe  with  the  heart  and  confess  that  the  one  church  is 
not  of  the  heretics  but  the  holy  Roman  catholic  church  out- 
side of  which  no  one  can  be  saved."  ^ 

In  his  Rule  of  Princes  and  Errors  of  the  Greeks,  Thomas 
Aquinas  gave  his  assent  to  Innocent  Ill's  assumption  claim- 
ing for  the  Roman  pontiff  plenitude  of  power  and  declared 
that  obedience  was  due  to  the  Roman  church  as  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  himself — cui  obediendum  est  tanquam  Domino  Deo,  Jesu. 
He  used  also  the  words:  "subjection  to  the  Roman  pontiff 
is  of  necessity  to  salvation" — subesse  romano  pontifici  est  de 
necessitate  salutis? 

A  new  period  in  the  history  of  the  conception  of  the 
church  opened  with  Boniface's  bull,  Unam  sanctum,  and  was 
forced  by  it,  the  text  on  which  other  writers  as  well  as  Wy- 
clif  and  Huss  comment  frequently.^  This  notorious  document 
might  have  been  relegated  to  the  archives  of  innocuous  legal 

^  De  Sacr.,  i :  2,  Migne's  ed.,  176  :  416 :  eccles.  s.  corpus  est  Christi,  uno  spirilu 
vivificata  et  unita  fide  una,  etc. 

*  See  Schwane,  Dogmengesch.  d.  mittl.  Zeit.,  p.  504. 
'Reusch's  ed.,  p.  9;   also  Mirbt,  Quellen,  3d  ed.,  p.  157. 

*  For  Huss,  see  index  of  this  vol.  Wyclif,  de  Eccles.,  14,  26,  38,  112, 114, 314. 
Wyclif  speaks  of  Boniface  as  having  entered  the  papacy  as  a  fox,  by  craft,  p.  34. 


xxxiv  INTRODUCTION 

papers,  had  it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  it  confirmed  Louis 
the  Fair  of  France  in  his  opposition  to  the  temporal  abso- 
lutism of  the  papal  throne  and  united  his  kingdom  around 
him  in  this  interest.  Groups  of  pamphleteers  in  Italy  and 
France  attacked  now  the  claims  of  the  papacy  to  secular 
authority,  as  Dante,  and  now  its  spiritual  claims,  as  Peter  Du- 
bois and  Marsiglius  of  Padua.  These  men  agreed  in  repu- 
diating Constantine's  donation  on  the  ground  that  Constan- 
tine  had  no  right  to  bestow  upon  the  Roman  pontiff  any 
such  power;  and  Marsiglius  went  far  along  the  line  of  making 
the  claims  which  the  Protestant  Reformers  afterwards  united 
in  making.^  This  keen  critic,  who  was  anathematized  by 
John  XXII  for  asserting  that  Peter  was  not  the  head  of  the 
church,  also  asserted  that  the  distinction  between  bishops 
and  priests  is  not  founded  m  Scripture  and  that  the  church 
has  no  authority  to  coerce  by  physical  measures.  Con- 
temporary with  him,  Ockam  was  also  affirming  that  Christ 
did  not  appoint  a  primacy  at  Rome  and  that  the  pope  is  not 
essential  to  the  church  but  is  of  human  appointment — ex 
ordinatione  humana?  This  English  Schoolman  defined  the 
church  as  ''the  community  of  the  faithful  comprehending 
clerics  and  laymen."  It  may  be  reduced  to  one  person  as  it 
was  to  Mary  when  the  disciples  fled.  A  generation  before, 
Philip  the  Fair  had  proudly  reminded  Boniface  that  the 
church  was  made  up  of  laymen  as  well  as  priests. 

The  removal  of  the  papacy  to  Avignon  and  the  papal 
schism  which  followed,  13 77-141 5,  were  adapted  to  intensify 
the  controversy  over  the  nature  and  functions  of  the  church, 

^For  this  most  interesting  tract  literature,  see  Riezler,  Die  littrarischen 
Widersacher  der  Pdpste  zur  Zeit  Ludwig  des  Baiers.  Finke,  A  us  den  Tagen 
Bonifaz  VIII.  Haller,  Papstihum  und  Kirchenreform.  Scholz,  Die  PiiUi- 
zistik  zur  Zeit  Philipps  des  Sckonen  und  Bonifaz  VIII.  Schaff ,  Ch.  History  V., 
I  :  674,  777- 

^  See  David  E.  Culley,  Konrad  von  Gelnhausen,  seine  Lehre,  seine  Werke  und 
seine  Quellen.  Halle,  1913,?.  8^sqq.  Hugo  de  St.  Victor,  as  in  the  passage 
above  quoted,  also  said  that  "the  church  is  comprised  of  laymen  and  clerics,  as 
it  were  the  two  sides  of  one  body."  To  the  laity,  Hugo  goes  on  to  say,  are 
committed  terrestrial  possessions,  etc. 


INTRODUCTION  xxxv 

questions  which  had  seemed  to  be  forever  settled  before 
Boniface  issued  his  bull.  The  discussions  were  participated 
in  by  a  class  of  men  of  whom  Konrad  of  Gelnhausen  was 
one  of  the  very  first,  and  by  Wyclif  followed  by  Huss  who 
constitute  a  much  more  advanced  group.  The  opinions  of 
the  former  group  found  expression  in  the  Reformatory  coun- 
cils, notably  the  council  of  Constance.  The  opinions  of  the 
latter  involved  an  ecclesiastical  revolution  and  led  straight 
forward  to  the  Protestant  Reformation. 

The  opening  clause  of  Boniface's  bull  asserting  the  unity 
of  the  church,  Wyclif  and  Huss  both  accepted,  but  they  put 
upon  it  another  interpretation  from  that  intended  by  Boni- 
face. The  unity  was  not  in  the  apostolic  see  but  in  predes- 
y^tinating  grace  as  manifesting  itself  in  the  exercise  of  the 
^  Christian  virtues.  The  other  clauses  they  wholly  repudiated, 
namely  the  clause  that  to  the  church  is  given  both  swords 
and  the  clause  that  it  is  altogether  necessary  for  salvation 
that  every  creature  be  subject  to  the  Roman  pontiff.  The 
latter  repeats  the  very  language  of  Thomas  Aquinas.  In  re- 
nouncing these  two  propositions,  Wyclif  and  Huss  set  them- 
selves against  the  fabric  of  the  mediaeval  system. 

It  was  Huss's  merit  that  he  kept  open  the  subject  of 
the  church  by  his  death  and  this  treatise.  He  passed  WycHf's 
views  on  to  a  later  time,  and  his  volume  was  the  avenue  for 
their  transmission.  Huss's  tenets  and  his  memory,  embodied 
in  the  Christian  dissenters  known  as  "the  Bohemians,"  were 
a  constant  source  of  interest  and  of  controversy  down  to  the 
age  of  Luther.  At  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  Wessel 
exclaimed:  "The  church  cannot  err,  but  what  is  the  church? 
It  is  the  communion  of  the  saints  to  which  all  true  believers 
belong  who  are  bound  together  by  one  faith,  one  love,  one 
hope."  The  definition  of  the  nature  and  the  functions  of 
the  church  was  awaiting  settlement,  and  the  staggering  blow 
to  Boniface  VIII's  arrogance  was  given  by  the  Reformation. 

In  view  of  our  authorities,  it  would  be  false  to  say  that 


xxxvi  INTRODUCTION 

Luther  learned  directly  from  Huss,  but  Luther's  assertions 
show  that  he  not  only  took  Huss  under  his  protection,  but 
that  he  was  confirmed  in  his  opposition  to  the  pope  by  his  re- 
gard for  Huss  and  by  his  writings.  Not  to  quote  again  what 
I  have  quoted  in  another  place,  Luther  said:  "I  rejoice  that 
Huss,  a  true  martyr,  is  rising  before  this,  our  century,  that 
is  to  be  properly  canonized  even  if  the  papists  are  broken 
to  pieces.  Oh !  that  my  name  were  worthy  to  be  associated 
with  such  a  man.^ 

Luther's  definition  of  the  church  is  embodied  in  the  Augs- 
burg Confession.  It  was  due  to  Luther  and  Zwingli  that  the 
terms  visible  and  invisible  were  used  to  designate  the  true 
church  from  the  body  of  the  baptized.^ 

True  to  the  mediaeval  conception  and  only  six  months 
before  the  nailing  up  of  the  XCV  Theses,  Leo  X  confirmed 
Boniface's  Unam  sanctam,  and  in  reply  to  Luther  Prierias 
declared  the  church  to  be  in  essence  the  community  of  be- 
lievers but  virtually  the  Roman  church  and  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff— ecclesia  universalis  essentialiter  est  convocatio  credentium, 
virtualiter  ecclesia  Romana  et  pontifex  maximus.  The  catholic 
polemic  of  the  seventeenth  century,  with  Bellarmine  at  its 
head,  made  the  rule  of  the  papacy  of  the  essence  of  the  defini- 
tion of  the  church.  He  expressly  repudiated  as  heretical  the 
definition  of  Wyclif,  Huss  and  Calvin.^  Still  true  to  the 
mediaeval  idea,  Pius  IX,  in  1873,  in  a  communication  ad- 
dressed to  the  German  emperor,  William  I,  declared  that  all 
the  baptized  are  in  some  sense  subject  to  the  Roman  pontiff.* 

Several  matters  in  Huss's  treatment  call  for  passing  note. 

'Letter  to  Otto  Brunfels,  1524,  who  edited  some  of  Huss's  writings,  1524. 
See  Mon.,  i  :  423. 

2  In  his  Com.  on  Galatians,  Luther  spoke  of  the  church  invisible,  est  in- 
visibilis  habitans  in  Spiritu,  etc.,  and  Zwingli  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to 
use  both  terms,  in  his  Expos,  fidei,  1531 — est  autem  eccles.  aut  visibilis  aut  in- 
visihilis.  The  XXXIX  Articles  use  the  term  invisible.  Schwane,  Dogmen- 
gesch.,  p.  510,  says:  "Huss  rejected  the  definition  that  the  church  is  a  visible 
community  of  believers  in  Christ." 

^  Lib.  Ill  de  Eccles.,  chap.  II. 

*Jeder  welcher  die  Taufe  empfangen  hat,  gehort  in  irgend  einer  Art  und  in 
irgend  einer  Weise  .  .  .  dent  Papste  an  Mirbt,  Quellen,  p.  371. 


INTRODUCTION  xxxvii 

The  first  is  that  Huss,  as  also  Wyclif  before  him,  con- 
tinued to  call  the  church  mother  and  holy  mother.  Although 
this  designation  has  the  prestige  of  high  antiquity,  it  is  to 
be  used  with  great  caution.  The  church  is  not  a  personality, 
giving  birth  to  spiritual  children.  The  designation  is  drawn 
from  Paul's  placing  Christ  and  the  church  figuratively  in 
the  relation  of  bridegroom  and  bride.  But  nowhere  in  the 
New  Testament  is  the  church  called  mother  or  bringing  forth 
ascribed  to  it.  The  term  is  bound  up  with  the  conception  of 
the  church  as  a  saving  institution  and  its  use  developed  with 
the  development  of  the  sacramental  system.  From  the 
Protestant  standpoint  it  is  fallacious.  Wyclif  and  Huss, 
again  and  again,  pronounce  it  a  metaphor  and  so  prepared 
the  way  for  its  rejection  by  the  Reformers.^ 

Another  remark  is  that  Huss  makes  not  a  little  of  church 
history.  He  had  the  historical  sense  and  less  of  the  scho- 
lastic than  we  might  expect.  The  age  of  criticism  was  dawn- 
ing not  only  among  the  men  of  the  Renaissance  but  in  the 
church.  It  is  interesting  to  compare  Luther's  conception 
of  the  use  of  history  to  do  away  with  bad  usages.  In 
his  Introduction  to  Dr.  Barnes's  History  of  the  Lives  of  the 
Popes,  issued  in  1536,  he  said  that,  in  the  beginning,  not 
being  much  versed  in  the  lives  of  the  popes,  he  attacked  the 
papacy  a  priori,  that  is,  from  holy  Scripture,  but  was  won- 
derfully delighted  that  others  were  doing  the  same  a  poste- 
riori, that  is,  from  history .2  Huss  used  history  to  prove  the 
truth  of  Scripture.  ^ 

A  third  remark  is  that  nowhere  in  this  treatise  does  Huss 
use  the  passage,  John  17,  "that  they  may  be  one  as  thou, 

^In  his  Super  IV.  Sent.,  p.  469,  Huss  speaks  of  the  church  as  our  most 
dear  mother,  the  most  worthy  mother  of  predestination,  etc.  In  his  Com. 
on  the  Decalogue,  Flajshans's  ed.,  p.  19,  he  says  of  the  fifth  commandment: 
By  some  "  thy  spiritual  father"  is  said  to  be  the  priest  and  truly  "  thy  mother" 
is  the  church.  He  then  went  on  to  speak  of  another  interpretation  by  which 
the  Christian  has  three  mothers,  a  mother  after  the  flesh,  a  spiritual  mother, 
the  church,  and  a  celestial  mother,  Mary.  Cyprian  presented  the  medieval 
view  when  he  said:  "He  cannot  have  God  for  his  father  who  does  not  have 
the  church  for  his  mother."     Schaff,  Ch.  Hist.,  H,  173. 

*  See  Jacobs,  LiUheranism  in  England,  p.  182. 


xxxviii  INTRODUCTION 

Father,  art  in  me  and  I  in  thee,"  so  much  quoted  in  this 
present  age  as  if  corporate  union  were  the  test  of  the  ful- 
fihnent  of  the  words.  Huss's  treatise  presents  an  entirely 
different  test  of  Christian  unity.  He  must  not  be  pressed  too 
far.  Nevertheless,  it  is  plain  that  he  laid  stress  on  particu- 
lar churches^  and  made  the  bond  of  union  between  them 
and  between  their  members  predestinating  grace  and  an 
active  life  of  Christian  virtue. 

VI.  The  Canon  Law.  The  authorities  used  in  this 
treatise  are  the  Scriptures,  accredited  writers  of  the  church, 
the  canon  law  and  Wyclif.  Among  the  accredited  writers 
frequently  quoted  are  Augustine,  Ambrose,  Jerome,  Gregory 
the  Great,  Bernard,  and  Peter  the  Lombard.  It  is  notice- 
able that  Bonaventura's  name  is  not  mentioned  at  all,  whereas 
Wyclif's  Treatise  on  the  Church  quotes  him  at  least  sixteen 
times,  and,  for  some  reason,  Huss  draws  upon  Thomas 
Aquinas  much  less  than  did  his  English  precursor. 

With  few  exceptions  the  places  where  these  quotations 
are  found  in  the  volumes  of  Migne  and  the  Nicene  Fathers 
series  have  been  noted,  and  also  the  references  to  the  canon 
law  as  they  are  found  in  Friedberg's  edition, ^  The  verses 
of  the  Scripture  texts,  which  in  Huss's  time  had  not  yet  been 
marked,  have  been  supplied.  All  this  matter,  which  the 
translator  is  responsible  for,  is  enclosed  in  brackets,  as  also 
an  occasional  brief  explanation. 

Like  the  sacramental  system,  the  universities  and  the 
cathedrals,  the  body  of  the  canon  law  was  one  of  the  im- 
posing constructions  of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  had  as  its  J&rst 
and  chief  compiler  Gratian  who,  about  1150,  was  teaching 
church  law  in  Bologna  as  Irnerius  was  teaching  Roman  law. 

»The  XXXIX  Articles  of  Religion  speak  of  "every  particular  or  national 
church"  as  having  authority,  etc. 

=  A.  Friedberg,  Cor p7is  juris  canonici,  1 879-1881,  2  vols.,  pp.  1468,  1340,  is 
pronounced  by  the  Catholic  canonical  writer,  P.  Hergenrother,  Lehrhtich  d.  kalh. 
K.-rechts,  p.  192,  "  the  best  edition."  A  description  of  the  canon  law  will  be  found 
in  Friedberg's  Introd.  to  vol.  I  and  in  Hergenrother,  pp.  172-196.  For  a  history 
of  the  subject  of  the  treatment,  see  the  elaborate  work  of  J.  F.  von  Schulte, 
Die  Cesch.  der  Quellen  und  Lit.  des   canon.  Rechts,  Stutt.,  3  vols.,  1875-1880. 


INTRODUCTION  xxxix 

From  the  university  of  Bologna,  which  became  the  celebrated 
centre  of  the  study  of  both  laws,  such  eminent  popes  went 
out  as  Alexander  III  and  Innocent  III,  and  the  advice  of 
its  jurisconsults  was  sought  on  questions  of  first  import,  as 
by  Frederick  Barbarossa  on  the  plain  of  Roncaglia,  1158. 

In  his  Concordantia  canonum  discordantium,  usually  called 
Decretum  Gratiani,  Gratian  attempted  to  bring  into  a  har- 
monious code  the  statements  of  councils,  popes,  and  eminent 
Fathers  bearing  on  all  manner  of  questions  concerning  the 
government  of  the  church  and  its  usages.  This  digest  had 
even  greater  authority  in  its  department  than  Peter  the 
Lombard's  Sentences  in  the  department  of  systematic  theol- 
ogy. In  its  sections  are  also  contained  the  fictitious  materials 
of  the  pseudo-Isidorian  decretals,  the  most  notorious  portion 
of  which  is  the  donation  of  Constantine. 

As  time  wore  on,  the  need  was  felt  of  supplements  to 
Gratian's  work,  which  were  furnished  in  the  Decretals, 
so-called,  collected  by  order  of  Gregory  IX,  1234,^  the  Liber 
Sextus  or  Sext,  by  Boniface  VIII,  1298,  the  Liber  Septimus  or 
Clementine  Constitutions,  by  Clement  V,  1314,^  and  the  so- 
called  Extravagantes,  or  fugitive  decretals,  twenty  in  number, 
issued  by  John  XXII  and  incorporated  into  the  code  by  John 
Chappuis  in  his  edition  of  1500.  Chappuis  also  added  seventy 
other  decretals  issued  between  the  pontificates  of  Boniface 
VIII  and  Sixtus  IV,  1 294-1484.  The  completed  digest,  con- 
sisting of  these  parts,  was  authoritatively  issued  by  Gregory 
XIII,  1582.3 

The  Glosses  and  Little  Glosses,  which  Huss  frequently 
quotes — the  Glossa  ordinaria — are  comments  made  upon  the 
original  texts  by  glossators,  among  whom  Cardinal  Zabarella, 

'  For  Gregory's  bull  sanctioning  the  ed.  which  was  made  by  Ra)Tnund  of 
Pennaforte,  see  Wetzer-Welte,  3  :  1446-1450. 

2  In  numbering  the  supplements  of  Boniface  and  Clement  the  VI  and  the 
VII,  reference  was  had  to  four  compilations  made  during  the  reign  of  Innocent 
III,  which  constitute  the  Decretals. 

'  For  Gregory's  bulls,  see  Friedberg,  i  :  79  sqq. 


xl  INTRODUCTION 

so  prominent  in  Huss's  trial  at  Constance,  d.  141 7,  occupies 
a  place  of  distinction.^ 

In  this  treatise  and  elsewhere  Huss  was  concerned  first 
of  all  to  base  his  views  upon  plain  Scripture,  and  then  to 
find  their  confirmation  in  the  pages  of  the  canon  law.  In 
doing  so,  he  quoted  the  spurious  decretals  of  pseudo-Isidore, 
their  genuineness  in  that  age  being  still  universally  accepted. 

It  will  be  seen  that,  for  Huss,  the  canon  law  at  times  was 
a  heavy  load  to  carry.  He  did  the  best  he  could  to  explain 
away  its  language  which  taught  the  high-church  views  which 
he  distinctly  repudiated,  and  to  bring  its  statements  into 
harmony  with  the  teachings  of  Scripture  he  adduced.  He 
speaks  of  the  respect  due  to  the  body  of  canon  law  in  a  tone 
y which  leads  us  to  infer  that  he  accepted  it  in  places  with 
mental  reservation.^  A  single  case  in  which  he  is  seen  to' 
have  absolutely  set  aside  its  plain  meaning  is  his  exposition 
of  the  last  clause  of  the  Unam  sanctam  to  the  effect,  that 
there  is  no  salvation  except  for  those  who  fully  submit  to 
the  Roman  pontiff,  pp.  120,  121.  In  a  fine  passage  Huss 
makes  the  Roman  pontiff  refer  to  Christ,  the  supreme  Pon- 
tiff and  Shepherd,  but  Boniface  had  no  such  idea  in  mind 
when  he  issued  his  arrogant  deliverance. 

In  regard  to  Constantine's  donation,  which  established  the 
most  pretentious  claims  made  for  the  papal  monarchy  and 
for  the  sacerdotal  office,  Huss  took  the  position  Dante  had 
taken  before  him,  that  Constantine  had  no  right  to  bestow 
the  privileges  he  did.  For  the  first  time,  a  generation  or 
two  after  him,  the  genuineness  of  this  document  was  seri- 
ously doubted  by  Laurentius  Valla.  It  was  not  until  1520 
^  that  Valla's  destructive  criticism  was  brought  to  Luther's 
attention  by  Uhrich  von  Hutten. 

To  have  been  consistent,  Huss  would  have  been  obhged 

»See  Schulte,  i  :  216,  226-229;    2  :  89,  217  sqq.,  etc.;  and  for  Zabarella, 
2  :  283  sqq. 

"Pp.  94,  211  sq.,  215,  etc. 


INTRODUCTION  xli 

to  discard  Gratian's  compilation  as  Luther  did,  who,  in  1520, 
threw  the  ponderous  volume  into  the  same  flames  at  Witten- 
berg which  consumed  Leo  X's  bull.  And  the  marvel  is  that 
Huss,  and  Wyclif  before  him,  should  have  been  able  to  take 
the  advanced  views  they  did  with  this  heavy  load  of  the 
traditions  of  men — some  good  and  some  utterly  anti-Scrip- 
tural— weighing  them  down. 

VII.  The  Translation.  This  translation  has  been 
made  from  the  second  edition  of  Huss's  writings,  entitled 
Eistoria  et  Monumenta  J.  Bus,  published  in  two  volumes 
at  Frankfurt,  1715,  with  respectively  627  and  542  pages. 
The  edition  is  a  reprint  of  the  earlier  edition,  Frankfurt, 
1558,  also  in  two  volumes.*  The  translator  has  had  both 
editions  on  his  table,  using  the  second  on  account  of  the 
greater  clearness  of  the  print.  After  comparing  the  two 
editions  almost  paragraph  by  paragraph,  he  has  failed  to 
find  a  single  verbal  difference  in  the  text.  The  only  dif- 
ferences are  an  occasional  case  of  capitalization  and  punc- 
tuation. 

With  exceptions,  Huss's  quotations  are  found  to  con- 
form exactly  to  the  Vulgate,  the  text  of  the  canon  law  and 
the  other  texts  which  he  quotes.  It  was  the  translator's 
desire  to  examine  one  or  more  of  the  original  manuscripts 
of  the  treatise  and  through  the  courtesy  of  the  eminent  Huss 
expert.  Dr.  Flajshans,  of  Prague,  he  received  a  list  of  the 
more  important  manuscripts.^  It  was  found  impossible  to 
realize  this  desire;  but  from  the  accuracy  with  which  Huss 
has  transferred  quotations  to  his  pages  as  found  in  the  Frank- 

>The  de  Ecclesia  fills  75  double-columned  pages,  Mon.,  i  :  243-317.  To 
the  librarian  of  Lane  Theological  Seminary  the  translator  owes  his  thanks  for 
the  use  of  the  original  edition  as  well  as  other  valuable  works  as  he  is  also 
indebted  to  Dr.  Henry  Preserved  Smith  for  the  use  of  volumes  from  the 
library  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  of  which  he  is  the  librarian. 

^The  list  of  manuscripts,  which  includes  exact  descriptions,  gives  seven 
in  the  Royal  Library  of  Vienna,  one  in  the  Royal  Library  of  Munich,  one 
in  the  Cathedral  Gymnasium  Library  of  Magdeburg,  dated  1414,  and  four  in 
the  university  library  of  Prague.  For  a  list  of  Huss's  works  edited  by  Flajs- 
hans, see  Schaflf,  Life  of  Huss,  p.  8. 


xlii  INTRODUCTION 

furt  text,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  the  manuscript  would  show 
no  change  in  any  essential  matter.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Dr. 
Flajshans  will  add  to  his  other  editions  of  Huss's  writings  a 
new  edition  of  this,  Huss's  most  important  treatise. 

Huss's  Treatise  on  the  Church  is  now  within  the  reach 
of  readers  who  have  known  it  chiefly  by  its  fame.  Its  pages 
will  enable  him  who  reads  to  feel  some  of  the  pious  and  heroic 
spirit  of  its  author,  the  preacher  of  Bethlehem  chapel,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  appreciate  more  fully  what  was  the 
doctrinal  and  hierarchical  system  handed  down  from  the 
classic  period  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  age  of  Wyclif  and 
Huss.  According  to  the  letter  of  this  system  these  two  men 
were  justly  pronounced  heretics,  but  not  according  to  the 
Scriptures  to  which  they  appealed.^ 

To  follow  Huss's  own  presentation,  the  principle  upon 
which  Christ  was  put  to  death  was  stated  in  the  words, 
"  We  have  a  law  and  by  that  law  he  ought  to  die."  On 
the  same  principle  of  ecclesiastical  usage  Huss  suffered  at 
the  stake  at  Constance.  When  the  two  principles  empha- 
sized in  this  treatise  are  given  proper  recognition — personal 
devotion  to  Christ  and  a  daily  life  conformed  to  his  teach- 
ings and  example — the  practice  of  Christian  tolerance  and  all 
human  tolerance  will  be  advanced.  Then  will  creedal  union 
and  ritualistic  prepossessions  be  softened  and  the  barriers 
of  denominational  self-sufficiency  be  broken  down,  barriers 
which,  at  least  in  part,  have  been  erected  on  metaphysical 
definitions  in  theological  matters  or  uncertain  assumptions 
drawn  from  history  concerning  the  ministry  and  the  sacra- 
ments, for  which  no  distinct  warrant  can  be  found  in  the 
pages  of  the  New  Testament.  This  treatise  will  have  a 
mission  to-day,  if  its  pages  promote  the  idea  that  devotion 
to  Christ  is  the  condition  and  the  surety  of  Christian  fellow- 
ship and  co-operation. 

'  This  treatise  quotes  the  New  Testament  at  least  347  times  and  the  Old 
Testament  72  times.  The  two  books  most  frequently  quoted  are  the  Gospels 
of  Matthew,  93  times ;  and  John,  67  times. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

--     I.    The  Unity  of  the  Church i-io 

The  church  an  article  of  faith — Meaning  of  church  in  Greek — In  the 
New  Testament — The  church  a  mother — The  dove  of  the  Canticles — 
The  strong  woman  of  Proverbs — Not  to  be  believed  in  as  God. 

II.  The  One  Universal  Church  Divided  into  Three 

Parts 11-15 

The  church  triumphant,  militant,  and  dormant — The  Apostles' 
Creed — Wherein  the  unity  consists. 

III.  All  Christlans  Are  Not  Members  of  the  Church  16-26 

Parables  of  the  net,  etc. — The  human  body  and  the  spiritual  body — 
Essential  parts  of  the  body — Four  kinds  of  persons  related  to  the  church 
— Predestinated  according  to  present  righteousness — Christ's  other 
sheep. 

f  IV.    Christ  the  Only  Head  of  the  Church   .     .     .     27-38 

^  Head  by  reason  of  his  divinity  and  humanity — Head  from  the  be- 
ginning— No  reprobate  a  member  of  the  church — Present  goodness  no 
proof  of  predestination — Tychonius — The  word  Christian. 

V.  Good  and  Bad  in  the  Church 39-51 

Belief  and  faith — Parables  of  the  marriage-supper,  etc. — The  least  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven — Prelates  may  be  reprobate — Clergy  and  church 
used  interchangeably — Paying  tithes  to  the  clergy  for  their  works'  sake 
— The  nominal  and  the  real  church. 

VI.  Christ  the  Head  of  the  Elect 52-55 

Devil  the  head  of  the  reprobate — Sin  continues  in  the  reprobate  but 
disjoins  them — Christ  head  of  the  world  as  well  as  of  the  predestinate. 

VII.  The  Roman  Pontiff  and  the  Cardinals  Not  the 

Universal  Church 56-66 

Matt.  16  :  18 — The  church  a  mixed  body — Particular  churches — 
Reasons  for  calling  the  Roman  church  the  church. 

X    VIII.    The   Faith   Which  Is  the  Foundation  of  the 

Church 67-72 

Three  meanings  of  faith — Faith  formed  in  love — Faith  and  vision — 
Heb.  II  :  i — Faith  and  hope — Fallibility  of  the  pope — Infallibility  of 
the  Scriptures. 

zliii 


1/ 


xliv  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

IX.  The  Church  Founded  on  Christ,  the  Rock      .     73-90 

Christ  and  not  Peter  the  rock — Paul  on  the  church's  foundation — 
Texts  showing  Christ  to  be  the  rock — Augustine  on  the  rock — Patriarchs 
looked  forward  not  to  Peter — The  apostles  the  foundations  of  the  church 
— Peter  captain  and  primate — Peter's  virtues — The  priest  makes  the 
chair,  not  the  chair  the  priest — Christ  the  way,  the  truth,  the  life. 

X.  The  Power  of  Binding  and  Loosing  ....     91-110 

Spiritual  and  civil  power — Power  of  the  keys — Penance — Forgiveness 
granted  only  by  him  sinned  against — How  far  the  priest  binds  and 
looses — Things  Peter  could  not  loose — Lazarus  loosed — Binding  and 
loosing  belong  to  all  the  apostles. 

XI.  The  Abuse  of  Scripture  in  the  Interest  of  Cler- 

ical Power 111-118 

Claiming  the  power  of  Christ  and  not  following  him — The  devil  the 
worst  of  sophists — Christ  came  to  minister — Fictitious  clerical  authority 
— Christ's  true  followers — Simoniac  priests — The  contention  of  the 
eight  doctors. 

XII.  Christ  the  True  Roman  Pontiff  upon  Whom  Sal- 

vation Depends 1 19-124 

Belief  in  Christ  alone  of  necessity  to  salvation — Christ  the  eternal 
high  priest — Gregory  I's  letter  on  the  papal  prerogative — Assumptions 
and  ostentation  of  modern  pontifiFs. 

XIII.  The  Pope  Not  the   Head  of  the  Church  but 

Christ's  Vicar 125-136 

The  alleged  successors  of  Peter  and  the  apostles — Unlettered  popes — 
The  papissa  Joan — Heretic  popes — Constantine's  donation — Pope  and 
cardinals  not  necessarily  successors  of  the  apostles — The  pope  may  be 
head  of  the  Roman  church  if  his  life  is  worthy — If  he  is  predestinate. 

XIV.  When  the  Cardinals  Are  the  True  Successors 

of  the  Apostles 137-146 

Cardinals  not  the  body  of  Christ — Not  all  the  predestinate — Prelates 
often  do  not  seek  the  things  of  Christ — The  name  does  not  make  the 
bishop — The  pope's  display — Kissing  the  pope's  feet — Prelates  to  be 
tested  by  their  works. 

XV.  The  Church  May  Be  Ruled  Without  Pope  and 

Cardinals 147-160 

Unworthy  prelates — Duties  of  Christ's  apostles — Ambrose,  Augustine, 
etc.,  true  vicars  of  Christ — Constantine's  donation — Lewis's  grant  to 
Pascal — No  such  grant  from  Christ — Original  identity  of  bishops  and 
presbyters — Gregory  XII  condemned  by  the  cardinals — The  church  at 
first  without  a  pope — The  two  orders  of  bishop  and  deacon — The 
clergy  discerned  by  their  works. 


CONTENTS  xlv 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVI.  The   Law  of  the  Standard  of  Ecclesiastical 

Judgments 161-182 

Pope  and  cardinals  as  judges — Jerome  on  the  Roman  see — Christ 
falsely  condemned  by  statute  law — Popes  to  be  disobeyed  if  their  judg- 
ments are  contrary  to  the  truth — Christ  did  not  pronounce  civil  judg- 
ments— Nor  put  to  death — Old  Testament  examples  not  to  be  followed 
— The  sanguinary  corollary — The  abomination  of  desolation — Cases  of 
strife  over  the  papacy — Wicked  popes — The  Avignon  schism — Con- 
stantine's  donation  announced  by  an  angel,  bad  or  good. 

XVII.  Huss's  Resistance  to  Papal  Authority      .     183-194 

ReUgious  superiors  not  always  to  be  obeyed — Christ's  obedience  to  a 
superior — To  an  inferior — Obedience  of  the  greater  to  the  less — Of  an 
equal  to  an  equal — Of  the  less  to  the  greater — Obedience  only  virtuous 
as  it  is  of  God — Commands  and  coimsels — Ecclesiastical  laws  not  com- 
manded in  Scripture. 

XVni.    The  Apostolic  See,  or  Cathedra  Petri    .     195-216 

The  true  priest  does  good  works — Preaching — Pope  is  apostolic  when 
he  follows  the  apostles — Moses'  seat  was  Moses'  authority — Augus- 
tine on  the  apostolic  see — Papal  commands  to  be  tested — Huss's  appeal 
to  Christ — Pope  may  err — Solemn  responsibility  of  priests  who  kill  the 
sheep — Augustine  on  cathedras — Marcellus  made  mistakes — The  pri- 
macy of  Antioch  and  Rome. 

XIX.  When    Ecclesiastical    Superiors    Are    to    Be 

Obeyed 217-228 

The  absolutely  good  always  to  be  obeyed — Commands  that  are  inter- 
mediate— Neutrality  impossible  where  moral  action  is  concerned — 
Superiors  to  be  obeyed  always  when  they  teach  Christ's  command- 
ments— St.  Paul's  example — Bernard  on  the  duty  of  obedience — Clerics 
and  laics  to  scrutinize  the  commands  of  superiors — No  bhnd  obedience. 

XX.  Obedience  Not  Always  to  Be  Rendered  to  the 

Church  or  Its  Prelates 229-240 

"Prelates  to  be  obeyed  in  all  things" — Excommunication  only  for 
mortal  sin — In  matters  intermediate  the  church  sometimes  to  be  dis- 
obeyed— Commands  to  be  weighed  by  the  reason — Ecclesiastical  bur- 
dens hard  to  be  borne — Christ's  yoke  easy — The  Christian  to  follow 
Christ's  commands — Caf>able  priests  ought  to  preach  as  much  as  the 
rich  to  give  alms. 

XXI.  Circumstances  under  Which  Obedience  Is  to  Be 

Rendered  to  Prelates 241-262 

Popes  and  prelates  compared  to  the  scribes  and  Pharisees — Divine 
counsels — Circumstances  modifying  commands — Huss's  reasons  for  not 
going  to  Rome — Commands  repugnant  to  reason — Christ  the  first  ex- 
emplar to  be  followed — Deaths  of  John,  Martin,  and  Stafcon — An  in- 
ferior may  rebuke  a  superior — Objections  from  the  canon  law  against 
rebuking  a  pope — Inferiors  should  examine  commands  before  they  obey 
them. 


c^ 


xlvi  CONTENTS 

^^^^'^'^  PAGE 

XXII.  Excommunications,  Just  and  Unjust      .     .     263-274 

"A  censure  from  the  pope  not  to  be  questioned" — Pilate's  treatment 
of  the  censure  of  Christ — Excommunication,  suspension,  interdict — Ex- 
communication does  not  hurt  the  righteous — God  must  first  excommu- 
nicate— The  wicked  already  excommunicated  from  the  body  of  the 
righteous. 

XXIII.  Suspension  and  the  Interdict    ....     275-299 

Suspension  must  be  from  God  to  be  valid — Eli  and  his  sons — Old 
Testament  priests  less  guilty  than  New  Testament  priests— Prelates 
more  guilty  than  the  people  if  they  do  not  warn  the  people — Not  to  re- 
prove is  to  consent  to  sin — The  interdict — Christ  imposed  none- 
Unjust  to  the  innocent  community — Reasons  for  the  interdict  on  Prague 
— The  curia's  method — Boniface  VIII's  bull — "The  customs  of  the 
fathers" — The  apostles  did  not  fulminate  interdicts — Condemnation  of 
the  XLV  Wyclifite  Articles— The  effect. 


THE  CHURCH 


THE   CHURCH 

CHAPTER  I 
THE   UNITY   OF  THE   CHURCH 

As  every  earthly  pilgrim^  ought  faithfully  to  believe  the 
holy  catholic  church  just  as  he  ought  to  love  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Lord,  the  bridegroom  of  that  church,  and  also  the  church 
herself,  his  bride;  but  as  he  does  not  love  this,  his  spiritual 
mother,  except  he  also  know  her  by  faith — therefore  ought  he 
to  learn  to  know  her  by  faith,  and  thus  to  honor  her  as  his 
chief  mother.^ 

Therefore,  in  order  to  reach  a  proper  knowledge  of  her,  it 
is  to  be  noted,  (i)  That  the  church  signifies  the  house  of  God, 
constituted  for  the  very  purpose  that  in  it  the  people  may 
worship  its  God,  as  it  is  written,  I  Cor.  ii  :  22 :  "Have  ye  not 
houses  to  eat  and  to  drink  in  ?  "  Or,  to  speak  with  Augustine: 
"Do  you  despise  the  church  of  God,  the  house  of  prayer?" 
(2)  The  church  signifies  the  ministers  belonging  to  the  house 
of  God.  Thus  the  clerics  belonging  to  one  material  church 
call  themselves  the  church.  But  according  to  the  Greeks,  a 
church — ecdesia — is    a    congregation — congregatio — held    to- 

^  Viator,  a  current  word.  See  Wyclif,  de  Eccles.,  4,  42,  350.  Gerson,  Du 
Pin's  ed.,  2  :  22. 

2  See  also  chap.  II,  etc.  The  designation  mother  is  nowhere  given  to  the 
church  in  the  N.  T.  It  is  derived  from  the  relation  the  church  bears  to  Christ 
as  his  bride.  Later  on  in  this  chapter  Augustine  represents  her  as  giving  birth 
to  children.  So  Wyclif,  de  Eccles.,  117:  "The  church  is  a  virgin  since  she  is 
the  bride  of  the  virgin  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  as  a  mother  we  are  born  after  a 
spiritual  manner."  It  followed  that  Christ  was  the  spiritual  father  or  "father 
by  faith,"  Wyclif,  p.  i,  and  Grosseteste  in  this  treatise,  chap.  IV.  In  his 
Com.  on  the  Lombard,  p.  469,  Huss  speaks  of  the  church  as  "our  most  dear 
mother,  the  most  worthy  mother  of  the  predestinate." 


2  THE  CHURCH 

gether  under  one  rule,  as  Aristotle  teaches,  Polit.  2  :  7  ^  when 
he  says:  "All  have  part  in  the  church."  In  view  of  this 
meaning,  therefore,  the  congregation  of  all  men  is  called  the 
church — ecclesia.  This  appears  in  Matt.  25  :  31-33,  which 
says:  "When  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  in  his  glory  and  all 
his  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his 
glory  and  before  him  shall  be  congregated  all  nations."  What 
a  great  congregation  of  all  men  under  the  rule  of  Christ  the 
king  that  will  be !  Because,  however,  the  whole  of  that  con- 
gregation is  not  the  holy  church  it  is  added,  "and  he  will  sepa- 
rate them,  the  one  from  the  other,  as  a  shepherd  separates  the 
sheep  from  the  goats." 

From  this  it  is  evident  that  there  is  one  church — ecclesia 
— of  the  sheep  and  another  of  the  goats,  one  church  of  the 
righteous  and  another  of  the  reprobate — prcesciti}  Likewise 
the  church  of  the  righteous  is  on  the  one  hand  catholic,  that 
is,  universal,  which  is  not  a  part  of  anything  else.  Of  this  I 
am  now  treating.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  particular,  a  part 
with  other  parts,  as  the  Saviour  said,  Matt.  18  :  20:  "Where 
two  or  three  are  congregated  together  in  my  name,  there  am 
I  in  the  midst  of  them."  From  this  it  follows  that  two  right- 
eous persons  congregated  together  in  Christ's  name  constitute, 
with  Christ  as  the  head,  a  particular  holy  church,  and  like- 
wise three  or  four  and  so  on  to  the  whole  number  of  the  pre- 
destinate without  admixture.  In  this  sense  the  term  church 
is  often  used  in  Scripture,  as  when  the  apostle  says,  I  Cor.  1:1: 
"To  the  church  which  is  in  Corinth,  to  the  sanctified  in  Jesus 

•  Aristotle,  the  authority  of  the  Schoolmen  in  philosophy,  and  called,  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  The  Philosopher.  So  Huss  in  this  treatise,  chap.  IV,  and  often 
in  his  Com.  on  the  Lombard,  p.  112,  etc. 

2  The  foreknown,  that  is,  those  of  whom  God  knows  beforehand  that  they 
are  not  in  a  state  of  permanent  grace.  Their  condition  is  not  the  result  of  an 
active  decree,  though  it  is  a  subject  of  God's  previous  knowledge.  The  fore- 
known are  in  grace  according  to  present  righteousness  and  desire  through  merit 
at  once  eternal  bliss  and  at  the  same  time  their  damnation.  This  apparent 
contradiction  Huss  explains  to  lie  in  this,  that  they  are  not  willing  to  use  the 
means  to  the  attainment  of  eternal  bliss,  just  as  a  person  may  wish  a  coat  and 
yet  not  possess  it.    Super  IV.  Sent.,  188. 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE   CHURCH  3 

Christ."  Likewise  Acts  20  :  28:  "Take  heed  to  yourselves 
and  to  the  whole  flock  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  hath  made 
you  bishops,  to  feed  the  church  which  he  hath  purchased  with 
his  own  blood."  And  in  this  sense,  all  the  righteous  now 
living  under  Christ's  rule  in  the  city  of  Prague,  and  more  par- 
ticularly the  predestinate,  are  the  holy  church  of  Prague,  and 
the  same  is  true  of  other  particular  churches  of  saints  of  which 
Ecclesiasticus  24  :  2,  speaks:  "In  the  congregations — ecdesiis 
— of  the  Most  High  shall  she  [wisdom]  open  her  mouth,"  and 
also  31  :  11:  "All  the  congregation  of  the  saints  shall  declare 
his  alms."  ^ 

But  the  holy  catholic — that  is,  universal — church  is  the 
totality  of  the  predestinate — omnium  predestinatorum  univer- 
stias — or  all  the  predestinate,^  present,  past,  and  future.  This 
definition  follows  St.  Augustine  on  John,  C.  Recur.  32  :  4 
[Friedberg,  i  :  11 26],  who  shows  how  it  is  that  one  and  the 
same  church  of  the  predestinate,  starting  at  the  beginning  of 
the  world,  runs  on  to  the  apostles,  and  thence  to  the  day  of 
judgment.  For  Augustine  says :  "  The  church  which  brought 
forth  Abel,  Enoch,  Noah  and  Abraham,  also  brought  forth 
Moses,  and  at  a  later  time  the  prophets  before  the  Lord's 
advent  and  she,  which  brought  forth  these,  also  brought  forth 
the  apostles  and  our  martyrs  and  all  good  Christians.  For 
she  has  brought  forth  all  who  have  been  born  and  lived  at 
different  periods,  but  they  have  all  been  comprised  in  a  com- 
pany of  one  people.  And  the  citizens  of  this  city  have  ex- 
perienced the  toils  of  this  pilgrimage.  Some  are  experiencing 
them  now,  and  some  will  be  experiencing  them,  even  to  the  end 
of  the  world."     How  clearly  that  holy  man  shows  what  the 

1  See  Bissell,  Com.  on  Apocrypha,  Lange  Series,  343,  359.  Also  Apocrypha 
trsl.  out  of  the  Greek  and  Latin,  Cambr.,  1895. 

^  Huss  takes  up  the  decree  of  predestination  in  his  Super  IV.  Sent.,  153-188. 
He  makes  a  slight  distinction  between  elect  and  predestinate,  although  he  says 
the  Masters  use  the  terms  interchangeably.  Election  may  only  be  for  the  pres- 
ent life,  as  in  the  case  of  Judas,  of  whom  Christ  said:  "  Did  not  I  elect  you  twelve, 
yet  one  of  you  is  a  devil?"  John  6  :  70.  The  predestinate  cannot  fall,  and 
yet  no  necessity  is  placed  upon  their  free  will,  pp.  165,  168. 


4  THE   CHURCH 

holy  catholic  church  is !  And,  in  the  same  place  and  in  a 
similar  way,  he  speaks  of  the  church  of  the  wicked.  This,  he 
says,  "brought  forth  Cain,  Ham,  Ishmael,  and  Esau,  and  also 
Dathan  and  other  like  persons  of  that  people.  And  she, 
which  brought  forth  these,  also  brought  forth  Judas,  the  false 
apostles,  Simon  Magus,  and  other  pseudo-Christians,  down 
to  these  days — all  obstinately  hardened  in  fleshly  lusts, 
whether  they  are  mixed  together^  in  a  imion  or  are  clearly 
distinguished  the  one  from  the  other."  So  much,  Augus- 
tine. 

From  this  statement  it  appears  that  the  holy  universal 
church  is  one,  the  church  which  is  the  totality  of  the  predes- 
tinate, including  all,  from  the  first  righteous  man  to  the  last 
one  to  be  saved  in  the  future.  And  it  includes  all  who  are 
to  be  saved  who  make  up  the  number,  in  respect  to  the  filling 
up  of  which  number  all  the  saints  slain  under  the  altar  had 
the  divine  assurance  that  they  should  wait  for  a  time  until 
the  number  should  be  filled  up  of  their  fellow  servants  and 
brethren.  Rev.  6  :  9-1 1.  For  the  omniscient  God,  who  has 
given  to  all  things  their  weight,  measure  and  number,  has 
foredetermined  how  many  shall  ultimately  be  saved.  There- 
fore, the  universal  church  is  also  Christ's  bride  about  whom 
the  Canticles  speak,  and  about  whom  Isaiah,  61  :  10,  "as  a 
bridegroom  decked  with  a  crown,  and  as  a  bride  adorned  with 
jewels."  She  is  the  one  dove  of  which  Christ  said:  "My  dove 
is  one,  my  excellent  one,"  Canticles  6  :  9.2     She  is  also  the 

^  Permixtj,  which  the  Decretum  has  instead  of  proximi,  Huss's  text. 

'  This  text  una  est  coliimba,  una  perfecta  mea,  was  a  chief  biblical  proof  used 
by  the  Schoolmen  for  the  unity  of  the  church.  The  Song  of  Solomon  had  a 
great  fascination  for  the  Schoolmen — the  book  upon  which,  one  after  another, 
they  exercised  their  allegorical  skill.  It  was  regarded  as  an  inspired  anthology 
of  the  bodily  and  spiritual  excellences  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  perfections 
of  the  church.  They  found  in  it  a  storehouse  of  devotional  meditation,  as  did 
Bernard,  whose  sermons  on  the  Canticles  are  full  of  tropical  effusions  to  Christ 
and  to  Mary,  and  the  chief  source  of  his  mystical  theology.  Paschasius  Rad- 
bertus,  de  corpore  et  sanguine,  Migne  120  :  1295,  says,  "The  Canticles  treat  of 
the  holy  church  of  God,  which  is  called  in  the  Canticles  the  paradise  of  de- 
lights."    Damiani  represented  God  as  inflamed  with  love  for  Mary,  singing 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  5 

strong  woman  whose  maidens  are  clothed  with  double  gar- 
ments, Prov.  21:2.  She  is  the  queen,  of  whom  the  Psalmist 
says:  "The  queen  stands  at  thy  right  hand  in  vestments  of 
gold  "  [Psalms  45  :  9].  This  is  Jerusalem,  our  mother,  the  tem- 
ple of  the  Lord,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  city  of  the 
Great  King ;  and  this  whole  church,  as  Augustine,  Enchiridion, 
41  [Nic.  Fathers,  3  :  255,  256],  says,  "is  to  be  understood  not 
only  of  that  part  which  sojourns  here,  praising  God  from  the 
rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun,  and  which,  after  its  old  cap- 
tivity, is  singing  the  new  song,  but  also  of  that  part  in  heaven 
which,  continuing  true  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  con- 
stituted, has  always  been  loyal  to  God,  and  has  never  felt 
misery  from  any  fall.  This  part  among  the  holy  angels  re- 
mains blessed  and,  as  it  behooves  it  to  do,  helps  the  part  so- 
journing upon  the  earth,  because  she  who  is  to  be  one  by  the 
companionship  of  eternity  is  now  also  one  by  the  bond  of 
love.  And  this  whole  church  was  constituted  to  worship 
God.  Therefore,  neither  the  whole  nor  any  part  of  it  wishes 
to  be  worshipped  as  God."     So  far,  Augustine. 

This  is  the  holy  catholic  church  which  Christians  profess 
immediately  after  professing  their  faith  in  the  Holy  Spirit.^ 
First,  because,  as  Augustine  says,^  she  is  the  highest  creature, 

the  Canticles  to  her  praise.  Albertus  Magnus,  in  his  elaborate  panegyric  of 
Mary,  dwells  again  and  again  upon  its  passages,  devoting  no  less  than  two 
hundred  and  forty  pages  to  the  words,  "a  garden  shut  up  is  my  sister,  my 
bride,"  Cant.  4  :  12.  Alanus  ab  Insuhs  speaks  of  the  Canticles  as  referring 
to  the  church,  but  in  the  highest  spiritual  sense  to  Mary,  and  another  of  the 
saner  Schoolmen,  Rupert  of  Deutz,  fills  his  commentary  on  the  Canticles  with 
the  most  tropical  language. 

'The  reference  is  to  the  Apostles'  Creed,  "I  believe  in  the  holy  catholic 
church,"  which  is  preceded  by  the  confession  of  God  the  Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Ghost.  Also  the  Nicene  creed.  See  Schaff,  Creeds,  2  :  57  sq.  With 
regard  to  the  intercession  of  the  saints  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  the  council  of 
Trent,  XXV,  says:  "That  the  saints  who  reign  together  with  Christ  offer  up 
their  own  prayers  to  God  for  men,  and  it  is  good  and  useful  suppliantly  to  in- 
voke them,  and  to  have  recourse  to  their  prayers  and  help  for  obtaining  bene- 
fits from  God  through  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  who  is  our  only  Redeemer 
and  Saviour." 

^  In  the  Enchiridiofi,  as  quoted  above.  Augustine  makes  a  similar  statemsot 
in  his  sermon  to  catechumens,  Nic.  Fathers,  3  :  375. 


6  THE  CHURCH 

therefore  she  is  placed  immediately  after  the  Trinity,  which  is 
uncreate,  and  second,  because  she  is  bound  to  Christ  in  a 
never-ending  matrimony,  and  by  the  love  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
And  third,  because,  the  Trinity  being  once  acknowledged,  it 
is  proper  that  it  should  have  her  as  a  temple  in  which  to  dwell. ^ 
Therefore  Augustine,  as  above  [Enchiridion,  41]  concludes: 
"That  God  dwells  in  his  temple — not  only  the  Holy  Spirit, 
but  the  Father  likewise,  and  also  the  Son.  And  of  his  body 
— by  virtue  of  which  he  is  made  head  of  the  church  of  God 
which  is  among  men,  in  order  that  in  all  things  he  might  have 
the  pre-eminence — the  Son  said:  'Destroy  this  temple  and  in 
three  days  I  will  build  it  up  again' "  [John  2  :  21].  From  these 
words  of  Augustine  we  deduce  (i)  that  the  universal  church  is 
one,  praising  God  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  the  end; 

(2)  that  the  holy  angels  are  a  part  of  the  holy  catholic  church; 

(3)  that  the  part  of  the  church  called  pilgrim  or  militant  is 
helped  by  the  church  triumphant;  (4)  that  the  church  trium- 
phant and  the  church  militant  are  bound  together  by  the 
bond  of  love;  (5)  that  the  whole  church  and  every  part  of  it 
are  to  worship  God,  and  that  neither  she  nor  any  part  of  it 
wishes  to  be  worshipped  as  God. 

From  all  this  the  conclusion  follows,   that  the  faithful 
ought  not  to  believe  in  the  church,  for  she  is  not  God,  but  the 

*  The  writers  of  the  M.  A.  also  made  Mary  the  dwelling-place  of  the  Trinity, 
especially  the  hymn-writers.  So  the  great  hymnist,  Adam  of  St.  Victor,  in  the 
lines 

Salve  mater  pietatis 
Et  totius  trinitalis 
Nobile  triclinium. 

Hail,  mother  of  piety; 
And  of  the  whole  Trinity 

Excellent  refectory  (monastic  hall). 

As  the  church  is  the  bride  of  Christ,  so  Mary  was  also  represented  as  the 
spouse  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Alfonso  da  Liguori  delights  so  to  represent  her,  as 
for  example,  in  the  prayer:  "I  thank  thee,  O  eternal  Spirit,  for  the  love  given 
to  Mary,  thy  spouse."  In  his  encyclical  to  the  French  bishops,  Jan.  15,  1907, 
Pius  X  spoke  "of  his  full  confidence  in  the  Virgin  Immaculate,  daughter  of 
our  Father,  mother  of  the  Word  and  spouse  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  etc. 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  7 

house  of  God,  as  Augustine  in  his  Exposition  of  the  Creed  says/ 
but  they  should  believe  that  the  catholic  church  is  the  bride 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — bride,  I  say,  chaste,  incorrupt,  and 
never  capable  of  being  corrupted.  For  St.  Cyprian,  the  bishop 
and  glorious  martyr,  24  :  i,  C.  Loquitur  [Friedberg,  i  :  971, 
de  Unitate  Eccles.,  5;  Ante-Nic.  Fathers,  5  :  423],  says:  "The 
church  is  one,  which  is  spread  abroad  far  and  wide  by  the  in- 
crease of  her  fruitfulness."  And  he  adds:  ''nevertheless  the 
head  is  one,  the  origin  is  one,  and  one  is  the  copious  mother  of 
fruitfulness.  The  bride  of  Christ  cannot  be  defiled.  She  is 
incorrupt  and  chaste.  She  knows  one  house  and  guards  with 
chaste  modesty  the  sanctity  of  one  couch."  ^  The  holy  church 
is  also  the  husbandman's  vineyard,  of  which  Gregory  in  his 
Homilies  [Migne,  76  :  1154]  says:  "Our  Maker  has  a  vine- 
yard, namely  the  universal  church,  which  starts  from  right- 
eous Abel  and  goes  down  to  the  last  elect  person  who  shall 
be  born  in  the  end  of  the  world,  which  bears  as  many  saints 
as  the  vineyard  sends  forth  branches."  Of  the  church  St. 
Remigius^  also  says  in  his  Homily  Quadragesima  on  the 
text:  "'The  men  of  Nineveh  shall  rise  up  in  judgment  with 
this  generation  and  condemn  it.'  The  holy  church  is  made  up 
of  two  parts,  those  who  have  not  sinned  and  those  who  have 
ceased  to  sin."  St.  Isidore  also,  in  speaking  of  the  church, 
de  Summo   Bono,   14  [Migne,  83  :  572]^   says:    "The   holy 

1  Sermo  de  symholo,  falsely  ascribed  to  Augiistine  and  given  in  the  Appendix 
to  his  Works  (Migne,  40  :  1196).  Three  of  Augustine's  genuine  treatises  on 
the  creed  are  given  in  translation,  Nic.  Fathers,  vol.  Ill,  282-314;    321-333; 

369-375- _ 

2  Cubilis.    The  Decretura  has  cuhicuU,  bedchamber. 

'  Remigius,  d.  about  908,  a  Benedictine  monk  of  Auxerre,  who  also  taught 
at  Paris.  He  wrote  commentaries  on  the  Psalms,  Genesis,  etc.,  and  12  Hom- 
ilies on  Matthew,  all  found  in  Migne,  131.  He  supported  Paschasius's  view 
of  the  change  of  the  eucharistic  elements. 

*  Usually  known  as  the  de  sententiis,  the  first  Latin  compend  of  theology, 
and  a  forerunner  of  the  Sentences  of  Peter  the  Lombard  and  the  systems  of 
the  summists  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Isidore,  archbishop  of  Seville  (d.  636), 
exercised  a  large  influence  over  the  scholastic  studies  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
especially  by  his  encyclopedic  works,  the  Etymologice  and  the  de  natura  reruni. 
The  former  is  a  general  encyclopedia  giving  curious  information  derived  from 


8  THE   CHURCH 

church  is  called  catholic  for  the  reason  that  it  is  universally 
distributed  over  all  the  world."  Augustine  and  Ambrose 
likewise  in  their  canticle,  Praising  God,  say:  ''The  holy 
church  throughout  all  the  world  doth  acknowledge  Thee."  ^ 
And  Ambrose,  24  :  i  [Friedberg,  i  :  976]  speaks  thus  of 
her:  "What  house  is  more  worthy  of  the  entrance  of  apostolic 
preaching  than  is  the  holy  church  ?  Or  who  else  is  to  be  pre- 
ferred above  all  others  than  Christ,  who  was  accustomed  to 
wash  the  feet  of  his  guests  and  did  not  suffer  any  whom  he 
received  into  his  house  to  dwell  there  with  soiled  steps,  that 
is,  works?"  And,  speaking  of  this  church.  Pope  Pelagius, 
24  :  I,  C.  Schisma  [Friedberg  i  :  980,]'  cites  Augustine  as 
saying,  "There  cannot  be  two  churches,"  and  then  adds: 
"Truly,  as  it  has  often  been  said,  there  can  be  only  one  church, 
the  church  which  is  Christ's  body,  which  cannot  be  divided 
into  two  or  more  bodies."    Jerome  also  says  of  the  church, 

ancient  authors,  classic  and  ecclesiastical,  on  a  large  variety  of  subjects:  medi- 
cine, law,  the  Bible,  grammar,  warfare,  etc.  See  Brehaut,  An  Encyclopedist  of 
the  Dark  Ages,  New  York,  1912.  Isidore  was  one  of  the  very  first  to  write  a 
treatise  designed  to  convince  the  Jews,  de  fide  catholica  c.  Judaos.  The  high 
church  fraud,  the  pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals,  which  appeared  about  853,  was 
for  centuries  ascribed  to  Isidore.  In  the  chapter  quoted  by  Huss  Isidore 
says,  "  The  holy  catholic  church  tolerates  with  patience  in  herself  those  who  live 
ill,  but  casts  out  from  herself  those  who  believe  ill,"  and  again,  "They  are  here- 
tics who,  leaving  the  church  of  God,  have  chosen  private  societies,  that  is, 
they  have  hewn  out  broken  cisterns  for  themselves." 

'  The  Te  Deum,  or  canticle  to  the  Trinity,  beginning,  "  We  praise  Thee,  O 
God."  According  to  the  legend,  first  noted  by  Hincmar  in  the  ninth  century, 
Augustine  and  Ambrose  at  Augustine's  baptism,  387,  under  supernatural  in- 
spiration, improvised  the  hymn.  In  the  West  it  became  a  part  of  the  church 
service  as  early  as  the  sixth  century,  if  not  earlier.  See  Julian,  Hymnology, 
p.  1 1 19  sqq.;  Augustine,  Con_ff.,  9  :  7,  refers  to  the  moving  impression  made 
upon  him  by  the  "hymns  and  canticles"  sung  in  the  church  of  Milan.  For 
these  reasons,  Raphael  gave  Augustine  a  place  in  his  painting  of  St.  Cecilia, 
in  Bologna. 

'^  Pelagius  I,  pope,  555-561,  witnessed  the  ravages  of  the  Goth,  Totila,  in 
Rome,  and  helped  to  repair  them  during  his  pontificate.  He  was  Justinian's 
choice  for  the  papal  office.  The  quotation  is  from  Pelagius's  letter  to  a  certain 
patrician,  John,  condemning  the  ordination  of  Paulinus  of  Aquileja  by  the 
schismatic  bishop  of  Milan  as  something  to  be  execrated  rather  than  to  be  re- 
garded as  sacred.  See  Jaffa,  Regesta  pontifictim,  p.  88.  In  this  letter,  Pelagius 
also  quotes  for  the  unity  of  the  church  Cant.  6:9:  "My  dove  is  one." 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  9 

de  Pcen.,  Dist.  i  :  C.  Eccl.  [Friedberg  i  :  1179]:  "The  church 
of  Christ  has  no  spot  or  wrinkle  or  anything  of  that  sort, 
but  he  who  is  a  sinner  or  is  soiled  with  any  filth  cannot  be 
said  to  be  of  Christ's  church."  This  holy  universal  church 
is  Christ's  mystical  body,  as  the  apostle  says,  Eph.  i  :  22: 
"He  gave  himself  to  be  the  head  over  all  the  church,  which 
is  his  body."  Again  he  said,  Col.  i  :  18,  "He  is  the  head  of 
the  body,  which  is  the  church,"  and  again,  Col.  i  :  24,  "For 
his  body's  sake,  which  is  the  church,"  and  Eph.  5  :  23,  "Christ 
is  the  head  of  the  church  and  himself  is  the  Saviour  of  his 
body,"  and  further  on:  "Christ  loved  the  church  and  gave 
himself  for  it  that  he  might  sanctify  it,  washing  it  with  the 
washing  of  water  in  the  word  of  life  that  he  might  present  it 
to  himself  a  glorious  church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle  or 
anything  of  that  kind,  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without 
spot." 

Upon  this  text  the  holy  doctors  lean,  as  when  Augustine 
says,  de  doctrina  Christi  [3  :  37,  Nic.  Fathers,  2  :  573]:  "Christ 
is  the  head  of  the  church,  which  is  his  body  destined  in 
the  future  to  be  with  him  in  his  kingdom  and  unending 
glory."  Gregory,  Moralia,  35  :  9  [Migne,  76  :  762]  says: 
"Because  Christ  and  the  church  are  one,  the  head  and  the 
body  are  one  person."  And  on  Ezekiel,  homily  15,  he  says: 
"The  church  is  one  substance  with  Christ,  its  head."  And 
Bernard  on  the  Canticles,  homily  12  [Migne,  183  :  831]: 
"The  church  is  Christ's  body,  more  dear  than  the  body  he 
gave  over  to  death."  ^  And  Paschasius,  de  sacra,  corporis 
Christi  [Migne,  120  :  1284] ^  says:    "Even  as  it  is  found  in 

'The  passage  runs:  "The  church  lives  and  eats  of  the  living  bread  which 
came  down  from  heaven.  She  is  the  more  precious  body  of  Christ,  and  lest 
she  should  taste  of  death  the  other  was  given  over  to  death." 

'^  This  treatise  of  Paschasius,  d.  865,  usually  quoted  as  de  cor  pore  et  sanguine 
Christi,  is  one  of  the  most  important  treatises  bearing  on  the  development  of 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Without  using  the  word,  Paschasius  set 
forth  the  view  that  in  the  Lord's  Supper  the  very  body  "which  was  born  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  suffered  on  the  cross  and  rose  again,"  is  distributed  by  the 
priest.    He  supports  this  view  by  the  literal  interpretation  of  John  6  :  54: 


lo  THE  CHURCH 

the  Scriptures — the  church  of  Christ,  or  the  bride  of  God, 
is  truly  called  Christ's  body,  truly  because  the  general  church 
of  Christ  isjiis  body  and  Christ  is  called  the  head  and  all 
the  elect  are  called  members.  From  these  members  the  one 
body  of  the  church  is  brought  unto  a  perfect  man  and  the 
measure  of  the  fulness  of  Christ.  But  the  body  of  Christ, 
that  is,  the  bride  of  God,  is  called  in  law  the  church.  This 
is  according  to  the  apostle's  words:  'And  they  twain  shall  be 
one  flesh.'  This,  he  says,  is  a  great  sacrament  in  Christ  and 
the  church.^  For,  if  Christ  and  the  church  are  one  flesh,  then 
certainly  there  is  one  body,  one  head,  one  bridegroom,  but 
different  elect  persons,  members  the  one  of  the  other."  So 
far,  Paschasius. 

These  quotations  from  the  saints  show  that  the  holy 
catholic  church  is  the  number  of  all  the  predestinate^  and 
Christ's  mystical  body — Christ  being  himself  the  head — and 
the  bride  of  Christ,  whom  he  of  his  great  love  redeemed  with 
his  blood  that  he  might  at  last  possess  her  as  glorious,  not 
having  wrinkle  of  mortal  sin  or  spot  of  venial  sin,  or  anything 
else  defiling  her,  but  that  she  might  be  holy  and  without  spot, 
perpetually  embracing  Christ,  the  bridegroom. 

"Whoso  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood."  Paschasius  was  a  monk 
and  then,  844-851,  abbot  of  the  convent  of  Corbie,  nearer  Amiens.  His  tract 
was  written  831  and  sent  to  Charles  the  Bald  844.  His  doctrine  was  opposed 
by  the  monk  Ratramnus,  and  others.  The  next  controversy  over  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  led  by  Berengar,  d.  1088.  Transubstantiation  was  made  a  dogma 
of  the  church  at  the  fourth  Lateran  council,  1215.  Wyclif  denied  it,  declaring 
that  transubstantiation  would  involve  transaccidentation.  Huss  was  also 
charged  with  denying  the  doctrine,  but  emphatically  repudiated  the  charge, 
Ratramnus's  work  was  put  on  the  Index  by  the  council  of  Trent. 

*  Eph.  5  :  32.  The  false  translation  of  Jerome,  rendering  the  Greek  word 
mystery  by  sacrament,  a  rendering  used  to  justify  the  inclusion  of  marriage 
among  the  sacraments  and  repeated  in  the  Rheims  version. 

*  Wyclif,  Congregatio  omnium  predeslinatorum,  solum  numerus  predestina- 
torum,  de  Eccles.,  2,  5,  etc.  In  his  Com.  on  the  Lombard,  p.  36,  Huss  defines 
the  church  as  "  the  congregation  of  all  the  faithful  about  to  be  saved.  It  is  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ,  that  is  now  hidden  to  us,  of  which  body  the  damned 
do  not  really  have  part,  but  they  are  like  dung  which  in  the  day  of  judgment 
are  to  be  separated  from  the  body  of  Christ." 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   ONE   UNIVERSAL    CHURCH    DIVIDED    INTO 

THREE    PARTS 

It  having  been  said  what  the  holy  universal  church  is — 
that  she  is  only  one  just  as  the  number  of  all  the  predestinate 
is  one,  and  also  that  she  is  distributed  in  her  members  through- 
out all  the  word — it  must  be  known  that  this  holy  universal 
church  is  tripartite,  that  is,  divided  into  the  church  trium- 
phant, militant  and  dormient. 

The  church  militant  is  the  number  of  the  predestinate 
now  on  its  pilgrimage  to  the  heavenly  country,  and  is  called 
militant  because  it  wages  Christ's  warfare  against  the  flesh, 
the  world  and  the  devil. 

The  church  dormient  is  the  number  of  the  predestinate 
suffering  in  purgatory.  It  is  called  dormient  because  being 
there  she  does  not  enjoy  the  blessedness  which  in  the  present 
life  through  God's  prevenient  and  assisting  grace  she  merited 
that  she  might  get  her  reward  in  the  heavenly  country  after 
the  satisfaction  made  in  purgatory. 

The  church  triumphant  consists  of  the  blessed  at  rest  in 
the  heavenly  country  who  kept  up  Christ's  warfare  against 
Satan  and  have  finally  triumphed.  There  will,  however,  be 
one  great  church  on  the  day  of  judgment,  made  up  of  all 
these.  And  as  a  symbol  of  these  three  parts  the  doctors  say 
the  sacrarnent  of  the  eucharist  is  broken  into  three  parts. 
'The  first  part,  the  part  immersed  in  the  liquid  sacrament, 
they  say,  signifies  the  church  triumphant  which  is  absorbed 
and  inebriate  with  the  dipping  ^  of  the  divine  essence,  as  says 

^  Iniindio,  the  word  used  of  Judas's  dipping  the  sop,  Matt.  26  :  23;  John 
13  :  26.  The  custom  is  for  the  priest  to  break  the  host  into  two  equal  parts. 
He  then  drops  a  fragment  of  one  of  these  parts  into  the  chalice,  whose  contents 

II 


12  THE  CHURCH 

the  head  of  the  church,  Cant.  5:1,  making  merry  with  his 
friends  and  companions:  "Let  us  be  drunken,  my  beloved," 
[drink  abundantly.  Rev.  Vers.].  But  the  two  other  parts  in  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  and  to  be  purged  through  the  merit  of  the 
church  are  set  forth  by  those  two  parts  which  the  priest  holds 
in  his  hands,  the  greater,  being  laid  down,  signifies  the  militant 
church  and  the  lesser,  resting  upon  it,  signifies  the  church 
waiting  in  purgatory.  For  this  church  in  purgatory  depends 
upon  the  suffrages  of  the  church  militant.  And  for  these  two 
parts  we  pour  out  our  double  prayers  to  the  Lamb,  who  is 
the  head  of  the  church,  that  he  may  have  mercy  upon  us. 
But  as  for  the  third  part,  to  whose  dwelling-place  and  rest 
we  look  forward,  we  pray  that  the  same  Lamb  of  the  three- 
fold nature  may  at  last  give  us  peace.  For  this  reason,  Christ 
in  his  state  of  humiliation  visited  three  places  of  the  church, 
(i)  the  navel  of  our  habitable  world,  dwelling  thirty-three 
years  in  Judea  and  Jerusalem;  (2)  the  limbus,  in  which  the 
Fathers  were  purified,  by  bringing  out  a  fragment  of  his 
church  in  the  spirit,  and  (3)  ascending  to  heaven  he  led 
captivity  captive,  which,  after  his  triumph,  he  crowned  by 
placing  it  at  God's  right  hand.^  This,  therefore,  is  the  three- 
fold division  of  this  one  universal  or  catholic  church,  al- 
though, however,  there  are  particular  churches. 

he  drinks.  The  priest  holds  the  two  larger  parts  so  that  the  smaller  of  the  two 
lies  upon  the  other.  Thomas  Aquinas,  Sumnta,  3  :  84  [Migne,  3  :  851],  mentions 
the  custom  of  dropping  a  fragment  into  the  cup. 

*  Jerusalem  was  regarded  in  the  Middle  Ages  as  the  navel  of  the  earth.  The 
cross,  according  to  Jerome,  was  erected  over  Adam's  skull,  which  Shem  had 
carried  to  Jerusalem  after  the  Flood,  and  buried  on  the  future  Mount  Calvary. 
Noah,  according  to  Jacob  of  Edessa,  had  taken  Adam's  bones  with  him  into 
the  ark.  The  region  limbus  palrum  was,  according  to  the  Schoolmen,  the 
future  abode,  where  the  patriarchs  and  faithful  Jews  were  detained  until  Christ's 
"descent  into  Hades."  The  future  world  is  divided  into  five  abodes,  hell,  the 
"  place  of  dolors  "  (Th.  Aquinas) ,  and  "  the  deep  prison  into  whose  smoky  atmos- 
phere the  demons  are  cast  "  (Alb.  Magnus);  purgatory,  a  sort  of  reformatory' 
school,  where  the  baptized  are  purged  of  sins  clinging  to  them  at  death;  heaven; 
and  the  abodes  of  the  fathers  and  infants,  limbus  infantum.  The  last  is  the 
final  dwelling-place  of  all  unbaptized  children  dying  in  infancy,  where  they 
abide  forever  without  hope  of  beatitude,  without  change,  and  without  vision 
of  God  or  physical  light. 


THE  ONE  UNIVERSAL  CHURCH  13 

But  this  universal  church  is  a  virgin,  the  bride  of  Christ 
— who  is  a  virgin — from  whom  as  from  a  true  mother  we  are 
spiritually  born.  A  virgin,  I  say,  all  beautiful  and  in  whom 
there  is  no  spot  [Cant.  4:7.],  "  having  neither  spot  nor 
wrinkle"  [Eph.  5  :  27],  holy  and  immaculate,  and  so  most 
chaste  even  as  she  is  in  the  heavenly  country.  Nevertheless 
by  fornicating  with  the  adulterant  devil  and  with  many  of 
his  children  she  is  partially  corrupt  by  wrong-doing.  How- 
ever, she  is  never  received  as  the  bride  to  be  embraced, 
beatifically  at  the  right  hand  and  in  the  bed  of  the  bride- 
groom, until  she  has  become  a  pure  virgin,  altogether  with- 
out wrinkle.  For  Christ  is  the  bridegroom  of  virginity,  who, 
as  he  lives  forever,  can  not  allow  the  bride  to  desert  him  and 
fornicate  spiritually.  Thus  it  is  said  of  the  multitude  of  the 
heavenly  denizens  that  they  are  virgins  and  follow  the  Lamb 
wheresoever  he  goeth  [Rev.  14  :  4].  But  in  the  very  first 
moment  of  the  world  Christ  was  predestinated  to  be  the  bride- 
groom of  the  church,  and  by  establishing  the  angels  [in  glory] 
he  gave  a  dowry  to  one  part  of  the  bride.  And  so  also  by  es- 
tablishing righteous  Abel  and  other  saints,  up  to  the  time  of 
the  incarnation,  the  church  remained  continually  in  her  es- 
pousals. At  the  incarnation  he  made  his  second  marriage  by 
creating  to  be  a  queen  a  part  of  the  whole  church,  which  by 
a  certain  fitness  is  called  the  Christian  church.  For  then 
our  leader  and  legislator  familiarly  addressed  his  bride,  as 
the  apostle  says,  Heb.  i.  By  assuming  human  nature  he  put 
on  our  armor  and  as  a  giant  overcame  the  enemies  of  the 
church  and  taught  how  a  part  of  the  church,  as  a  jealous  bride, 
ought  to  follow  him. 

Therefore,  the  whole  of  Christian  doctrine  is  involved  in 
that  prayer  of  the  church  in  which  we  pray  the  bridegroom, 
by  his  coming  into  the  flesh,  that  he  may  teach  us  to  despise 
earthly  things  and  love  heavenly  things — to  despise,  that  is, 
to  subordinate,  terrestrial  things  in  our  affections  and  to  love 
Christ  the  bridegroom  above  all  things. 


14  THE  CHURCH 

Hence,  it  is  evident  that  the  universal  holy  church  is 
Christ's  one  and  only  bride,  the  virgin  to  be  in  the  end  most 
chaste,  whom  the  Son  of  God  bound  to  himself  in  matrimony 
out  of  eternal  love  and  by  the  grace  of  adoption,  and  the 
church  we  firmly  believe,  saying  with  the  Creed,  ''I  believe 
one  holy  catholic  church,"  and  about  which  the  word  is 
added  in  the  second  Creed,  "  and  apostolic  [church]."  It  is 
called  apostolic  for  the  reason  that  the  apostles  are  full  par- 
ticipants of  this  same  mother  church,  which  is  fully  purified 
in  the  Spirit,  and  which  they  themselves  planted  with  the 
teaching  and  blood  of  Christ;  and  by  whose  teaching  {i.  e.,  of 
the  apostles)  and  authority  their  vicars  now  rule  the  young 
bride,  who  seeks  only  the  bridegroom  of  the  church.  So  runs 
the  Decretal  24  [Friedberg,  i  :  968]  where  pope  Leo  says: 
"Peter's  authority  has  its  seat  wherever  its  just  sentence  is 
carried."  For  Peter  himself  dwells  in  heaven,  seeing  and 
looking  after  what  God  binds  and  looses.  Hence  Boniface 
VIII,  Extravagante,  says:  "We  are  bound  with  living  faith  to 
believe  and  hold  that  the  holy  catholic  and  apostolic  church 

15  one.    '■ 

The  unity  of  the  catholic  church  consists  in  the  unity 
of  predestination,  inasmuch  as  her  separate  members  are  one 
by  predestination^  and  in  the  imity  of  blessedness,  and  in- 
asmuch as  her  separate  sons  are  finally  united  in  bliss.  For, 
in  the  present  time,  her  unity  consists  in  the  unity  of  faith 
and  the  Christian  virtues  and  in  the  unity  of  love,  even  as 

^  Boniface's  famous  bull,  Unam  sanctam,  issued  1302  against  Philip  the  Fair 
of  France,  which  commands  subjection  to  the  Roman  pontiff  as  the  condition 
of  salvation  for  every  creature.  The  text  goes  on,  "and  we  firmly  believe  it 
and  sincerely  confess  that  outside  of  it  there  is  no  salvation  or  remission  of 
sins,  as  the  bridegroom  announced  in  the  Canticles:  'My  bride  is  one.'" 
See  Schaff,  Ch.  Hist.,  V,  part  2  :  25  sqq.  for  the  original  and  translation;  Fried- 
berg, 2  :  1245;  Mirbt,  162.  In  this  treatise  Huss  quotes  this  bull  a  number  of 
times,  even  to  the  last  chapter. 

"  In  his  Reply  to  Palecz,  Mon.,  i  ;  321,  Huss  says  again:  "The  grace  of  pre- 
destination is  the  chain  by  which  the  body  of  the  church  and  every  member  of 
it  are  joined  to  Christ."  He  also  speaks  of  the  unity  through  love,  faith,  and 
hope,  Mon.,  1  :  326. 


THE  ONE  UNIVERSAL  CHURCH  15 

Augustine  draws  forth  in  expounding  John  17  :  21,  "that 
they  all  may  be  one,"  and  in  his  letter  to  Dardanus,^  where 
he  expounds  the  text  "it  is  expedient  that  one  man  die  for 
the  people"  [John  18  :  14].  "  Caiaphas,"  Augustine  says: 
"prophesied  that  God  would  gather  together  in  one  his  chil- 
dren" [John  II  :  52],  that  is,  not  in  one  material  locality; 
"  but  he  has  gathered  them  together  into  one  spirit  and  one 
body,  whose  only  head  is  Christ."  To  this  unity  the  apostle 
refers,  Eph.  4:3:  "endeavoring  to  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  There  is  one  body,  one  Spirit, 
one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all." 
Nor  is  it  to  be  doubted  that  without  this  union,  as  indicated 
before,  is  there  any  salvation. 

*  Dardanus  Claudianus  Postumus,  a  Christian  prefect  of  Gaul,  the  same 
to  whom,  probably,  Jerome  also  addressed  a  letter.  For  Augustine's  letter, 
Migne,  35  :  832. 


CHAPTER  III 

ALL  CHRISTIANS  ARE  NOT  MEMBERS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Against  what  has  aheady  been  said  the  objection  is 
raised  (i)  that  if  the  treatment  is  correct  then  no  reprobate 
would  be  a  part  of  our  holy  mother,  the  universal  church. 
But  the  consequence  is  false,  for  every  Christian  is  a  part  of 
that  church,  as  appears  from  the  parable,  Matt.  13  :  47: 
"The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  net  cast  into  the  sea 
which  gathered  in  all  manner  of  fish.'i'  On  this  St.  Gregory 
in  his  Homilies  [Migne,  76  :  11 16]  says:  ''The  holy  church 
is  compared  to  a  net  cast  into  the  sea  because  she  is  com- 
mitted to  fishers  and  because  every  one  is  drawn  up  through 
her  from  the  waves  of  this  present  world  to  the  eternal  king- 
dom lest  they  sink  in  the  depths  of  eternal  death."  (2)  The 
falsehood  of  the  treatment  is  confirmed  by  Matt.  22  :  2: 
"The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  likened  to  a  king,  who  made  a 
marriage  feast  for  his  son  and  sent  forth  his  servants  to  call 
them  that  were  bidden  to  the  marriage  feast."  Going  out, 
they  gathered  in  all  whom  they  found,  both  good  and  bad, 
and  the  marriage  feast  was  full  of  guests.  Here  Gregory  says: 
"By  the  very  quality  of  the  guests  it  is  evident  that  by  this 
royal  marriage  the  present  church  is  meant,  in  which  the  bad 
meet  with  the  good,  a  mixed  church  made  up  of  a  diversity  of 
children."  ^  (3)  It  is  confirmed  by  what  is  said,  Matt.  13  :  41, 
"The  Son  of  man  shall  send  forth  his  angels  and  gather  to- 
gether out  of  his  kingdom  all  things  that  offend  and  them 
that  do  iniquity";  and  (4)  by  Matt.  5  :  20:  "Whoso  shall 

'  Migne,  76  :  1285.  Gregory  continues  by  saying  that,  though  the  church 
brings  forth  to  faith,  nevertheless  she  doesnot  lead  all  to  the  liberty  of  spiritual 
grace,  etc. 

16 


ALL  CHRISTIANS  ARE  NOT  MEMBERS        17 

break  one  of  the  least  of  these  commandments  and  teach 
men  so,  shall  be  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Comment- 
ing on  both  these  passages,  Gregory,  homily  12,  says:  "The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  the  present  church  "  [Migne,  76  :  11 19]. 

(5)  The  falsehood  appears  from  Luke  3  :  1 7 :"  He  shall  bap- 
tize you  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and  with  fire  :  whose  fan  is  in  his 
hand,  and  he  will  cleanse  his  threshing-floor  and  gather  the 
wheat  into  his  garner;  but  the  chaff  he  will  burn  with  fire  im- 
quenchable."  Here  threshing-floor  stands  for  the  catholic 
church  as  the  doctors  expound,  especially  Augustine,  who  says 
of  faith,  ad  Petrum:  "Hold  most  tenaciously  and  in  no  wise 
doubt  that  God's  threshing-floor  is  the  catholic  church  and  that 
in  it  the  chaff  will  remain  mixed  with  the  wheat  till  the  end  of 
the  world."  ^  And  this  judgment  of  Augustine  is  confirmed 
by  Christ's  words:  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a 
man  who  sows  good  seed  in  his  field,"  and  Christ  afterward 
says:  "Let  both  grow  until  the  harvest,"  Matt.  13  :  30. 

Now  for  the  right  understanding  of  these  things  and  the 
things  to  be  said,  we  must  lay  down  out  of  the  apostle's  words 
that  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  universal  church,  that  she  is 

'  The  quotation  is  taken  from  the  de  fide  ad  Petrum  sive  de  regula  vera  fidei, 
wrongly  ascribed  to  Augustine,  but  printed  by  Migne,  40  :  753-780,  in  the 
Appendix  to  Augustine's  works,  and  with  a  Preface  stating  its  genuineness  to 
be  a  matter  of  doubt.  The  work  was  written  by  Fulgentius,  bishop  of  Ruspe, 
in  North  Africa,  not  far  from  Carthage,  d.  about  533;  a  vigorous  writer  against 
Arianism  and  semi-Pelagianism.  The  treatise  was  addressed  to  Peter  the 
Deacon,  and  not  to  Peter  the  Apostle,  as  Huss  seems  to  think.  For  Peter  the 
Deacon  who  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  Pope  Hormisdas,  see  Wetzer-Welte, 
9  :  1907  sq.  The  treatise  is  a  high  church  dociunent,  and  is  quoted  at  least 
three  times  in  the  Corp.  jiir.  can.,  and  under  the  name  of  Augustine,  viz.,  C. 
I  :  I,  55;  C.  15  :  i,  3;  de  consol.,  D.  4  :  3,  Friedberg,  i  :  379,  746,  1376.  The 
writer  follows  up  the  words  cited  above  by  saying:  "The  wicked  are  mixed 
with  the  good  in  the  communion  of  the  sacraments;  and  in  every  profession, 
whether  it  be  the  profession  of  clerics,  monastics,  or  laics,  the  wicked  and  the 
good  are  mingled.  .  .  .  The  wicked  are  to  be  tolerated  for  the  sake  of  the 
good  so  far  as  the  reason  of  faith  and  love  demand."  Fulgentius  declared  that 
"A  heretic  or  a  schismatic,  though  they  had  been  baptized  in  the  name  of  the 
Trinity,  are  outside  the  catholic  church,  no  matter  how  much  they  might  give 
in  charity  and  even  though  they  sweat  blood  for  the  name  of  Christ,  yet  they 
could  not  be  saved  unless  they  became  incorporated  into  the  catholic  church," 
p.  776. 


i8  THE   CHURCH 

his  body  and  that  every  one  who  is  predestinate  is  one  gf  her 
members  and  consequently  a  part  of  this  church,  which  is 
Christ's  mystical  body,  that  is,  hidden  body,  ruled  by  the 
power  and  influence  of  Christ,  the  Head,  and  compacted  and 
welded  together  by  the  bond  of  predestination.  This  under- 
lying proposition  follows  from  that  saying  of  the  apostle: 
"He  gave  him  to  be  head  over  all  the  church  which  is  his 
body,"  Eph.  i  :  22.  It  also  follows  from  the  words  when, 
speaking  as  the  representative  of  the  predestinate,  he  says: 
"We  being  many  are  one  body  in  Christ,"  Romans  12:5.  It 
also  follows  from  Eph.  4:11,15:"  He  gave  some  apostles,  some 
prophets,  some  evangelists,  and  some  pastors  and  teachers, 
for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints  for  the  work  of  the  ministry 
unto  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ."  And  further  on 
it  is  said:  "Doing  the  truth  in  love,  let  us  grow  up  in  all  things 
into  him  who  is  the  head,  even  Christ,  for  whom  all  the  body 
compacted  together  by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth, 
according  to  the  working  in  the  measure  of  each  several  part, 
maketh  increase  of  the  body  unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in 
iQve." 

*  Further  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Christ  is  called  the  head  of 
the  church  for  the  reason  that  he  is  the  most  exalted  individual 
of  the  human  family,  imparting  to  all  its  members  motion 
and  feeling.  For  as  in  a  man  the  most  excellent  part  is  the 
head,  which  gives  to  the  body  and  to  its  parts  motion  and 
feeling,  and  without  which  neither  the  body  nor  any  of  its 
members  could  live  the  life  of  nature,  so  Christ  is  the  in- 
dividual, the  true  God  and  man,  imparting  spiritual  life  and 
motion  to  the  church  and  every  one  of  its  members  and 
without  whose  influence  it  could  not  live  or  feel.  And  as 
in  a  man's  head  are  all  the  senses,  so  in  Christ  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God.  Col.  2:3. 
The  above  judgment  is  also  involved  in  the  apostle's  words 
when  he  says.  Col.  i  :  20:  "All  things  were  created  by  him 
and  in  him;  and  he  is  before  all,  and  in  him  do  all  things  consist 


ALL   CHRISTENS  ARE  NOT  MEMBERS        19 

and  he  is  the  head  of  the  body,  the  church  who  is  the  begin- 
ning and  the  first  born  from  the  dead;  that  in  all  things  he 
might  have  the  pre-eminence — primatum — for  in  him  it  was 
pleasing  that  all  fulness  should  dwell  and  through  him  to 
reconcile  all  things  to  himself." 

This  unity  of  the  body — that  is  the  church — the  apostle 
proves  by  showing,  I  Cor.  12:3,  that  the  diversity  of  graces, 
ministries  and  operations  proceeds  from  the  one  spiritual  Lord 
who  works  in  all.  For  grace  must  precede:  it  is  the  beginning 
of  ministration  for  clerics  and  of  operation  for  laymen.  The 
Spirit  gives  grace,  the  Lord  receives  ministration,  and  God 
demands  ministration.  "To  one,"  the  apostle  says,  "is  given 
by  the  Spirit  the  word  of  wisdom,  to  another  the  word  of 
knowledge  by  the  same  Spirit;  to  one  faith  in  the  same  Spirit, 
to  another  the  grace  of  healing,  to  another  the  working  of  mira- 
cles, to  another  prophecy,  to  another  discerning  of  spirits,  to 
another  divers  sorts  of  tongues,  to  another  the  interpretation 
of  words."  These  nine  the  apostle  seems  to  express  one  after 
the  other,  each  in  its  own  logical  order  in  the  men  who 
receive  the  gifts.  God,  he  says,  has  placed  some  in  the  church, 
first  apostles,  secondarily  prophets,  thirdly  teachers,  then 
miracles,  then  gifts  of  healings,  interpretations  of  words,  helps, 
governments,  divers  sorts  of  tongues,  all  nine  of  which  seem 
to  be  correlated  to  the  former  nine.  And  in  the  same  passage, 
comparing  the  body  of  Christ  and  its  members  to  the  body 
of  the  natural  man,  the  apostle  says,  I  Cor.  12  :  12:  "As 
the  body  is  one  and  hath  many  members,  but  all  the  members 
of  the  body,  though  they  are  many,  are  one  body;  so  also  is 
Christ." 

'  There  is  to  be  noted  a  threefold  correspondence  and  a 
threefold  difference  between  the  members  of  the  mystical 
body  and  the  human  body.  For  as  the  members  compose 
one  body  to  which  the  soul  is  joined,  and  again  as  each  member 
is  necessary  to  every  other,  the  one  helping  the  other  in  the 
performance  of  its  functions,  so  it  is  true  of  the  members  of 


20  THE   CHURCH 

the  church  by  virtue  of  the  power  of  communion  and  the 
bond  of  love.  Again  as  the  members  of  the  body  keep  them- 
selves in  their  own  function,  so  do  also  the  members  of  the 
church.  For,  according  to  Chrysostom,  de  opere  imperfecto, 
a  man  is  as  a  book  in  whom  the  whole  Christian  religion 
is  written,  therefore,  just  as  there  is  an  affinity  from  the 
head  down  to  the  feet,  so  reason  and  feeling  are  bound  to- 
gether. Also,  just  as  every  member,  comely  or  uncomely, 
serves  the  spirit  without  strife,  so  every  member  of  the  church 
serves  Christ,  without  any  strife  concerning  supremacy  and 
obedience.  And,  just  as  the  superior  members  do  not  boast 
of  their  comeliness  but  perform  their  functions  and  follow 
the  soul's  rule  unto  the  help  of  each  single  member,  so  ought 
it  to  be  with  members  of  the  church.  And  just  as  the  eyes 
and  the  countenance  are  in  their  activities  without  a  covering 
lest,  if  veiled,  they  might  defile  and  prepare  for  destruction, 
so  Christ  and  the  apostles,  out  of  the  fervor  of  their  love  and 
by  reason  of  their  exemption  from  the  fervor  of  lust,  were  not 
involved  in  temporal  interests  in  a  secular  way;  and  their 
vicars,  yea,  all  clerics  ought  to  be  like  eyes.  But  the  mem- 
bers, less  comely,  as  the  secret  parts,  are  more  concealed  and 
more  tender  and  multiplex,  and  so  it  is  with  mean^  persons, 
by  whom  the  dregs  of  the  church  are  gotten  rid  of.  But  the 
difference  between  the  members  of  these  bodies  is  to  be  stated 
thus:  (i)  Since  the  parts  of  the  church  persist  by  grace, 
they  are  not  concerned  as  to  their  place  or  corporal  location, 
as  are  the  members  of  the  human  body.  (2)  As  the  members 
are  mystical,  it  is  not  inconsistent  but  fitting  that  single 
members  should  have  functions  of  different  kinds.  For  a  man 
is,  as  it  were,  a  totality — universitas — so  that  it  is  fitting  that 
he  should  act  all  at  once,  so  far  as  he  is  able.  (3)  The  mem- 
bers of  the  church  should  have  vital  forces  flowing  into  them 
from  Christ,  just  as  the  members  of  the  body  have  vital  forces 

'  Conlemptibilibus,  a  departure  from  the  Vulgate  word  for  "  uncomely  "  used 
above — ignobile. 


ALL  CHRISTIANS  ARE  NOT  MEMBERS        21 

flowing  into  them  from  the  soul,  from  which  these  forces  be- 
come part  of  the  very  essence  of  the  members;  neverthe- 
less, the  inflowing  comes  first,  and  the  operation  of  the 
members  is  voluntary  and  gracious  and  meritorious.^ 

Further,  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  as  there  is  in  the  human 
body  an  element  which  is  not  of  the  body  itself,  as  spittle, 
phlegm,  ordure,^  and  fluid  or  urine,  and  this  element  is  not 
of  the  body  because  it  is  not  a  part  of  the  body — and  it  is  an- 
other thing  to  be  a  part  of  the  human  body,  as  is  every  one  of 
its  members — so  also  there  is  something  in  the  mystical  body 
of  Christ,  which  is  the  church,  that  is  nevertheless  not  of  the 
church,  since  it  is  not  a  part  of  it;  and  in  this  way  every 
reprobate  Christian  is  of  the  body  just  as  ordure  is  of  the  body 
and  to  be  finally  separated  from  it.  And  so  it  is  one  thing  to 
be  of  the  church  and  another  thing  to  be  in  the  church — aliud 
esse  de  ecclesia,  aliud  esse  in  ecclesia.  And  it  is  clear  that  it  does 
not  follow  of  all  pilgrims  who  are  in  the  church,  that  they 
are  then  of  the  church,  but  the  opposite.  For  we  know  that 
the  tares  grow  together  with  the  wheat,  the  raven  feeds  on 
the  same  threshing-floor  as  the  dove,  and  the  chaff  is  gathered 
into  the  same  garner  with  the  grain.  Nevertheless,  there  is 
an  incommunicable  distinction  between  them,  just  as  has 
been  illustrated  by  the  human  body.  In  this  way  we  ought 
to  think  of  holy  mother  church,  and  to  these  things  I  John 
2  :  18  has  reference  where  it  is  said:  "Now  have  there  arisen 
many  antichrists.  They  went  out  from  us,  but  were  not  of  us; 
for,  if  they  had  been  of  us,  they  would  have  continued  with  us." 
For  just  as  superfluity  proceeds  from  food  and  the  solid  mem- 
bers and  yet  is  not  of  them,  so  the  purgaments  of  the  church, 
namely  the  reprobate,  proceed  from  her  and  yet  are  not  of  her 
as  parts;  for  none  of  her  parts  can  fall  away  from  her  finally, 
because  predestinating  love,  which  binds  her  together,  does 
not  fail.     This  the  apostle  asserts,  I  Cor.  13,  and  this  he 

^The  same  thoughts  are  developed  in  the  Reply  to  Palecz,  Mon.,  i  :  321. 
''Jerome's  word,  Phil.,  3  :  8. 


22  THE  CHURCH 

proves,  Romans  8  :  28  sqq.,  when  he  says:  "We  know  that 
to  them  that  love  God  all  things  work  together  for  good,  even 
to  them  that  are  called  to  be  righteous  according  to  his  pur- 
pose," that  is,  the  purpose  of  predestination.  "For  whom  he 
foreknew,  them  he  also  predestinated  to  be  conformed  to  the 
image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might  be  the  first-born  among  many 
brethren.  And  whom  he  predestinated,  them  he  also  called; 
and  whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justified."  And  he  con- 
cludes by  calling  them  predestinate  after  suffering  a  long  trial 
when  he  said:  "I  am  persuaded  that  neither  death  nor  life, 
nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present, 
nor  things  to  come,  nor  might,^  nor  depth,  nor  any  creature 
shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

Besides,  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  as  many  say,  the  relation 
of  pilgrims  to  holy  mother  church  is  fourfold.  Some  are  in 
the  church  in  name  and  in  fact,  as  are  predestinate  Catholics, 
obedient  to  Christ;  some  are  neither  in  fact  nor  in  name,  as 
are  the  reprobate  heathen;  some  in  name  only,  as  are  reprobate 
hypocrites;  and  some  are  in  the  church  in  fact,  although  they 
may  seem  in  name  to  be  outside,  as  are  predestinate  Christians 
whom  the  satraps  of  antichrist  seem  to  be  damning  before  the 
very  eyes  of  the  church,  for  so  pontiffs  and  Pharisees  con- 
demned by  bitter  death  our  Redeemer  as  a  blasphemer,  and 
consequently  as  an  heretic,  "who  was  predestinated  to  be 
the  Son  of  God  "  (Romans  1:4). 

Further,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  no  place,  or  human  election, 
makes  a  person  a  member  of  the  holy  universal  church,  but 
divine  predestination  does  in  the  case  of  every  one  who  per- 
sists in  following  Christ  in  love.  And,  according  to  Augustine 
— de  predestinatione  sanctorum  [Nic.  Fathers,  5  :  498  sqq] — • 
predestination  is  the  election  of  the  divine  will  through  grace; 
or,  as  it  is  commonly  said,  predestination  is  the  preparation 

^  Fortitudo  with  the  Vulgate,  but  Huss  omits  the  Vulgate's  neque  aUitvdo — 
"nor  height." 


ALL  CHRISTIANS  ARE  NOT  MEMBERS        23 

of  grace — making  ready — in  the  present  time,  and  of  glory- 
in  the  future.  But  the  position  is  taken,  de  Penitentia,  Dist. 
4  [Friedberg,  i  :  1234],  Hinc  propheta,  that  predestination  is 
twofold:  First,  the  one  predestination  by  which  a  person  is 
foreordained  here  to  righteousness  and  the  acceptance  of  the 
remission  of  sins,  but  not  for  the  obtaining  of  the  life  of  glory.^ 
To  this  predestination  the  second  definition,  as  given  above, 
does  not  apply.  The  other  predestination  is  that  whereby 
a  person  is  predestinated  to  obtain  eternal  life  in  the  future. 
The  first  kind  of  predestination  follows  this,  and  not  vice 
versa.  For,  if  any  one  is  predestinated  to  eternal  life,  it 
necessarily  follows  that  he  is  predestinated  unto  righteousness, 
and,  if  he  follows  life  eternal,  he  has  also  followed  righteous- 
ness. But  the  converse  is  not  true.  For,  many  are  made 
partakers  of  present  righteousness  but,  from  want  of  per- 
severance, are  not  partakers  of  hfe  eternal.  Hence  it  is  said, 
de  Penitentia,  4,  Hoc  ergo:  "Many  seem  to  be  predestinate 
by  the  merit  of  present  righteousness  and  not  by  the  pre- 
destination of  eternal  glory."  And  Gratian  grounds  this 
position  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  Eph.  i  :  3-7:  "Blessed  be 
the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  who  has  blessed 
us  with  every  spiritual  blessing  in  the  heavenly  places  in 
Christ:  even  as  He  chose  us  in  Him  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world,  that  we  should  be  holy  and  without  blemish  before 
Him  in  love:  who  predestinated  us  unto  the  adoption  of  sons 
through  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  His 
will  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  His  grace,  which  is  freely 
bestowed  on  us  in  His  beloved  Son,  in  whom  we  have  our  re- 
demption through  His  blood  unto^  the  remission  of  sins." 

Further,  it  is  evident  that  men  may  be  of  holy  mother 
church  in  two  ways — either  by  predestination  to  Hfe  eternal, 
the  way  all  who  are  finally  holy  are  of  holy  mother  church, 

'Augustine  is  quoted  at  length  in  the  de  Penitentia,  4  :  7-12  [Friedberg, 
I  :  1229  sqq.];  Huss  does  not  quote  Augustine,  but  Gratian 's  comment. 

^ In  is  lacking  in  the  Vulgate,  which,  following  the  Greek,  puts  "remis- 
sion" into  apposition  with  "redemption." 


24  THE  CHURCH 

or  by  predestination  to  present  righteousness  only,  as  are  all 
such  who  at  one  time  or  another  accept  the  grace  of  the  re- 
mission of  sins  but  do  not  persevere  unto  the  end. 

And,  further,  it  is  evident  that  grace  is  twofold — namely, 
the  grace  of  predestination  unto  eternal  life,  from  which  a 
person  foreordained  cannot  finally  fall  away.  The  other  is 
the  grace  related  to  present  righteousness,  which  now  is 
present  and  now  is  absent,  now  comes  and  now  goes.  The 
first  kind  of  grace  makes  sons  for  the  holy  universal  church 
and  makes  a  man  infinitely  more  perfect  than  the  second 
kind,  because  it  bestows  an  infinite  good  to  be  enjoyed  forever. 
But  not  so  the  second  kind  of  grace.  Again,  the  first  makes 
sons  of  an  eternal  heritage,  while  the  second  makes  ofl&cials 
acceptable  to  God  only  for  time.  Hence  it  seems  probable 
that  just  as  Paul  was  at  the  same  time  a  blasphemer  accord- 
ing to  present  unrighteousness  and  yet  of  holy  mother  church, 
and,  consequently,  one  of  the  faithful  and  in  grace  in  virtue 
of  predestination  unto  eternal  life — so  Iscariot  was  at  one  and 
the  same  time  in  grace  according  to  present  righteousness 
and  yet  never  of  holy  mother  church  by  predestination  unto 
life  eternal,  for  that  predestination  was  wanting  in  his  case. 
And  so  Iscariot,  howbeit  he  was  an  apostle  and  bishop  elected 
by  Christ — "bishop"  being  the  name  of  an  office — was  never- 
theless never  a  part  of  holy  mother  church.  Even  so  Paul 
was  never  a  member  of  the  devil,  howbeit  he  committed  some 
acts  which  were  like  the  acts  of  the  church  of  the  wicked. 
Similar  was  the  case  of  Peter,  who,  by  the  Lord's  permission, 
fell  into  grave  perjury,  but  in  order  that  he  might  rise  the 
stronger;  for,  as  Augustine  says:  It  is  expedient  that  the 
predestinate  fall  into  sins  of  that  sort. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  is  evident  that  there  is  a 
twofold  separation  from  holy  church.  The  first  is  perma- 
nent [cannot  be  lost — indeperdibilis],  and  here  belong  the 
reprobate  who  are  separated  from  the  church.  The  second 
may  be  lost — deperdihilis — and  here  belong  heretics,  who  are 


ALL  CHRISTUNS  ARE  NOT  MEMBERS       25 

separated  by  ruinous  sin  from  holy  church  itself,  but,  neverthe- 
less, are  able  by  God's  grace  to  come  to  the  sheepfold  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Of  the  latter  Christ  says:  "Other  sheep  I 
have  which  are  not  of  this  fold,  and  them  I  must  bring,"  John 
10  :  16.  Other  sheep  he  had  by  virtue  of  predestination, 
which  are  not  of  this  fold  and  of  his  church  according  to 
present  righteousness,  which  sheep  of  his  grace  he  brought 
to  life. 

This  distinction  between  predestination  and  present  grace 
deserves  to  be  strongly  emphasized,  for  some  are  sheep  by 
predestination  and  ravening  wolves  according  to  present  right- 
eousness, as  Augustine  deduces  in  his  Commentary  on  John 
[Nic.  Fathers,  7  :  253  sq.]:  "In  like  manner  some  are  sons 
by  predestination  and  not  yet  by  present  grace."  And 
this  same  distinction  in  both  its  parts  Augustine  touches 
upon  in  his  Exposition  of  John  11  :  52  [Nic.  Fathers,  7  :  278], 
where  it  is  said:  "That  they  might  gather  together  into  one 
the  children  of  God  who  are  scattered  abroad."  "Caiaphas," 
Augustine  says,  "  was  prophesying  of  the  Jewish  people  only, 
to  whom  the  sheep  belonged  whom  the  Lord  had  in  mind 
when  he  said:  'I  am  not  sent  but  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel, '  but  the  Evangelist  knew  that  there  were  other 
sheep  who  were  not  of  this  fold  which  he  had  to  bring.  There- 
fore, he  added:  'And  not  for  that  nation  only,  but  that  he 
might  gather  together  into  one  the  sons  of  God  who  are 
scattered  abroad.'  These  things,  moreover,  were  said  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  predestination.  For,  up  to  that  time,  they 
were  neither  his  sheep  nor  the  sons  of  God."  So  much  Augus- 
tine. And  in  reference  to  these  things  it  is  said,  de  Penitentia, 
Dist.  4,  Hoc  ergo  [Friedberg,  i  :  1235]:  "In  this  way  they  are 
not  children  except  as  they  are  partakers  of  eternal  blessed- 
ness." And  it  is  added:  "They  are  called  children  in  three 
ways:  either  by  predestination  alone,  as  those  of  whom  John 
spoke  that  *  he  might  gather  into  one  the  children  of  God  who 
are  scattered  abroad';   or  by  predestination  and  the  hope  of 


26  THE  CHURCH 

eternal  blessedness,  as  were  those  to  whom  the  Lord  said: 
'Little  children,  yet  a  little  while  I  am  with  you';  or,  thirdly, 
by  the  merit  of  faith  and  present  righteousness,  but  not  by 
predestination  to  eternal  glory,  as  was  the  case  with  those  of 
whom  the  Lord  said:  'If  his  sons  forsook  my  law  and  walked 
not  in  my  statutes'  [Psalm  89  :  31]." 


CHAPTER  IV 
CHRIST  THE  ONLY  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH 

In  view  of  what  has  been  said,  the  conclusion  is  (i)  that 
Christ  alone  is  the  head  of  the  universal  church,  which  church 
is  not  a  part  of  anything  else.  This  is  clear  because,  if  any  one 
is  the  head  of  the  universal  church,  then  is  he  made  better 
than  the  angels  and  than  any  blessed  created  spirit,  Heb. 
1:4;  but  this  befits  Christ  alone,  for  it  behooved  him  to  be 
the  first-born  among  many  brethren,  Romans,  8  :  29,  and 
consequently  it  behooves  him  to  be  the  chief  by  the  right  of 
the  law  of  primogeniture,  Col.  i  :  15.  This  conclusion  also 
follows  from  the  apostle's  words,  Eph.  i  :  20:  "Which  God 
wrought  in  Christ  when  he  raised  him  from  the  dead  and 
made  him  to  sit  at  his  right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places,  far 
above  all  rule  and  authority,  power  and  dominion,  and  every 
name  which  is  named  not  only  in  this  world  but  also  in  the 
world  which  is  to  come,  and  has  put  all  things  under  his  feet 
and  gave  him  to  be  head  over  all  things  to  the  church,  which 
is  his  body."  From  this  it  is  clear  that,  if  any  Christian  were 
to  be  the  head  of  the  universal  church  with  Christ  (for  the 
church  cannot  be  a  monster  having  two  heads,  as  is  set  forth 
in  Boniface  VIII's  bull,  beginning  Unam  sanctam;  therefore, 
the  bull  says,  "the  church  is  one  body  and  has  one  head, 
not  two  heads,  like  a  monster  "),  it  would  be  necessary  to 
concede  that  the  Christian  who  was  the  head  of  that  church 
was  Christ  himself,  or  otherwise  it  would  be  necessary  to 
concede  that  Christ  is  inferior  to  that  Christian  and  a  lowly 
member  of  him.  The  conclusion  shows  that  the  thing  is  im- 
possible.   Hence,  the  holy  apostles  agreed  in  confessing  that 

27 


a 


28  THE  CHURCH 

they  were  servants  of  that  one  Head  and  humble  ministers 
of  the  church,  his  bride.  No  one  of  the  apostles  ever  pre- 
sumed to  claim  that  he  was  the  head  or  the  bridegroom  of 
the  church,  for  this  would  have  meant  to  adulterate  with 
the  queen  of  heaven  and  to  arrogate  the  name  of  dignity 
and  office — the  dignity  by  which,  according  to  the  eternal 
predestination,  and  the  office  through  which,  by  eternal  ap- 
pointment, God  ordained  that  Christ  should  be  supreme  ruler 
of  his  bride.  This  also  appears  from  St.  Augustine's  letter 
to  Dardanus  [Migne's  ed.,  33  :  8t,2  sgq.],  where  he  says: 
"She  only  has  one  head,  namely  him  who  rules  over  her,  ex- 
celling all  and  typifying  in  one  union  the  spiritual  and  secular 

i      rule." 

l^  Therefore,  it  is  possible  to  understand  the  "  Head  of  the 

Church"  in  a  twofold  sense:  inward  and  outward.  In  the 
inward  sense,  as  the  chief  person  of  his  church,  and  he  is  this 
in  two  ways:  either  by  superintendence  over  the  material 
goods  of  his  church  or  by  ruling  over  its  spiritual  things.  As 
outward  head  he  is  a  person  that  superintends  persons  inferior 
to  his  nature,  but  he  is  called  the  head  to  those  outside  of 
this  number  whom  he  rules  by  his  influence  in  virtue  of  his 
nature.  And  so  Christ  is  the  outward  head  of  every  par- 
ticular church  and  of  the  universal  church  by  virtue  of  his 
divinity,  and  he  is  the  inward  head  of  the  universal  church  by 
virtue  of  his  humanity;  and  these  two  natures,  divinity  and 
humanity,  are  one  Christ,  who  is  the  only  head  of  his  bride, 
the  universal  church,  and  this  is  the  totality  of  the  predesti- 
nate. For  this  divinity  is  the  man  who  descended  from 
heaven  and  who  ascended  again  into  heaven,  as  is  said  in  John 
3  :  13,  not  the  whole  of  the  divinity  considered  as  divinity, 
but  according  to  the  headship  whose  descent  was  not  a  local 
movement  but  an  incarnation  or  self-emptying.  And  the  as- 
cent was  a  local  movement  by  which  he  took  with  himself 
the  other  parts  of  the  body. 

Hence,  it  is  plain  that  there  is  nothing  inconsistent  in  a 


CHRIST  THE  ONLY  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH  29 

particular  church  having  several  heads.  For  it  may  have 
three  heads,  namely  the  divinity  of  Christ,  his  humanity,  and 
the  chief  appointed  by  God  to  rule  over  it.  But  there  are 
degrees  of  subordination  in  these  heads,  because  the  divinity 
is  supreme,  Christ's  humanity  is  intermediate,  and  the  chief 
is  the  lowest.  But  the  universal  church,  as  has  been  said, 
has  two  heads,  the  outward  head  which  is  the  divinity  and 
the  inward  which  is  the  humanity. 

Further,  from  these  things  it  is  seen  that  Christ  from  the 
very  beginning  of  the  world  down  to  his  incarnation  was, 
in  virtue  of  his  divinity,  the  outward  head  of  the  church, 
but  from  the  incarnation  on  he  is  the  inward  head  of  the 
church,  by  virtue  of  his  humanity.  And  so  the  whole  holy 
catholic  church  always  has  had  and  now  has  Christ  as  its 
head,  from  whom  it  cannot  fall  away,  for  she  is  the  bride 
knit  to  him,  her  head,  by  a  love  that  never  ends,  for  the 
bridegroom  says  to  the  church  herself,  Jer.  31  :  3:  "I  have 
loved  thee  with  an  everlasting  love,  therefore  with  loving 
kindness  have  I  drawn  thee."  Therefore,  always,  from  the 
very  beginning,  the  bridegroom  has  been  present  with  the 
whole  church  by  virtue  of  his  divinity,  who  later  was  with 
the  holy  fathers  by  virtue  of  his  humanity.  Hence  Augustine 
says,  commenting  on  Psalm  37  :  25,  "I  have  been  young 
[junior,  younger]  and  now  I  am  old":  ''The  Lord  himself  in 
his  heart,  that  is,  his  church,  was  younger  than  the  first  men. 
And,  behold,  now  that  he  is  old,  ye  know  and  do  not  know, 
and  ye  understand  because  ye  are  fixed  in  this,  and  so  ye 
have  believed,  because  Christ  is  our  head,  we  are  the  body 
of  the  head.  Are  we  alone  the  body  and  not  those  also  who 
were  before  us?  All  who  were  righteous  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world  have  Christ  for  their  head.  For  they  be- 
lieved that  he  was  for  to  come  whom  we  now  believe  to  have 
come,  and  in  the  faith  in  him  they  were  healed,  in  which  faith 
we  also  are  healed;  that  he  verily  might  be  the  head  of  the 
whole  city  of  Jerusalem,  all  the  faithful  being  included  from 


30  THE  CHURCH 

the  beginning  even  unto  the  end,  and  all  the  legions  and 
armies  of  the  angels  being  also  added — that  so  there  might 
be  one  city  under  one  king,  and  one  province  under  one 
emperor,  happy,  lauding  God  in  its  never-ending  peace  and 
salvation,  and  blessed  without  end.  Christ's  body,  which  is 
the  church,  is,  as  it  were,  like  a  young  man.  And  now  in  the 
end  of  the  world  the  church  is  of  plump  old  age,  because,  with 
reference  to  this,  it  was  said  of  her:  'They  shall  be  multipHed 
in  her  plump  old  age.'  She  has  been  multiplied  among  all 
nations."  So  much  Augustine,  in  whose  words  it  appears  how 
Christ  is  the  head  of  the  holy  church,  in  whom  the  fathers 
beheved  as  the  one  who  was  for  to  come  in  virtue  of 
his  humanity  that  he  might  be  their  head  in  his  humanity 
as  he  had  always  been  present  with  them  in  his  divinity. 
And  in  this  head  all  the  elect  are  united,  together  with  the 
holy  angels. 

(2)  The  second  point  concerns  the  objection  that  no  rep- 
robate is  a  member  of  our  holy  mother,  the  Catholic  church. 
For,  not  only  is  our  holy  mother,  the  Catholic  church,  one 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  which  without  mixture  has 
been  embraced  with  never-ending  love  by  the  right  hand  of 
the  bridegroom,  as  is  plain  from  what  has  been  said  above 
and  on  Augustine's  authority:  Inasmuch  as  the  church,  after 
the  day  of  judgment,  will  have  no  other  members  than  she  has 
and  will  have  before  the  day  of  judgment,  but  all  who  are 
to  be  saved  after  that  day  of  judgment  are  predestinate, 
therefore  none  of  them,  before  that  day  of  judgment  are  rep- 
robate. And  consequently  no  reprobates  have  ever  been 
members  of  the  church,  the  bride  of  Christ.  By  the  same  kind 
of  reasoning  this  will  always  be  true,  that  no  reprobate  what- 
soever is  a  member  of  our  holy  mother,  the  Catholic  church. 

Likewise,  it  is  not  possible  that  at  any  time  Christ  does 
not  love  his  bride  or  any  part  of  her,  for  he  necessarily  loves 
her  as  he  loves  himself.  But  it  is  not  possible  that  he  should 
love  any  reprobate  in  this  way;   therefore  it  is  not  possible 


CHRIST  THE  ONLY  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH  31 

that  any  reprobate  should  be  a  member  of  the  church.  The 
antecedent  is  clear  from  that  notable  principle,  "that  God 
is  not  able  to  know  or  love  anything  de  novo,"  as  Augustine 
says,  de  Trinitate,  6  [Nic.  Fathers,  3  :  103].  For  God  is  not 
able  to  begin  to  know  anything  or  to  give  up  knowing  any- 
thing or  to  call  forth  an  act  of  his  will,  for  he  is  unchangeable 
and  also  because  the  divine  knowledge  or  voUtion  is  not  con- 
ditioned by  anything  from  without. 

From  this  it  is  evident  that  Christ  loves  the  whole  church 
as  he  loves  himself,  because  he  loves  her  now,  just  as  he  will 
love  her  after  the  day  of  judgment,  when  she  will  reign  with 
him  as  is  plain  from  the  Canticles.  For,  otherwise,  there 
would  not  be  a  true  marriage  out  of  the  never-ending  love  of 
Christ,  a  party  to  the  divine  nuptials,  if  the  bridegroom  who 
is  one  person  with  the  bride  did  not  love  her  even  as  he  loves 
himself.  To  this  the  apostle  was  speaking  when  he  said: 
''Christ  loved  the  church  and  gave  himself  for  it  that  he 
might  purify  it,  washing  it  in  the  laver  of  water,  the  word  of 
life,  that  he  might  present  it  unto  himself  a  glorious  church, 
not  having  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing,  but  that  it 
should  be  holy  and  without  blemish,"  Eph.  5  :  26,  27.  For 
this  reason  Bernard,  in  his  12th  homily  on  the  Canticles 
[Migne,  183  :  831]  says:  "The  church  is  Christ's  body, 
dearer  to  him  than  the  body  he  gave  to  the  grave."  It  is 
plain,  therefore,  that  it  is  befitting  that  Christ  always  love 
his  bride,  the  holy  church,  just  as  he  will  love  her  after  the 
day  of  judgment;  and  in  the  same  way  he  hates  every  rep- 
robate, just  as  he  will  hate  him  after  the  day  of  judgment. 
For,  inasmuch  as  God  knows  fully  what  the  end  of  every 
reprobate  will  be,  and  what  penance  every  predestinate 
person  who  falls  will,  with  God's  unending  grace,  do — it  is 
evident  that  God  loves  a  predestinate  person  who  sins  more 
than  he  loves  any  reprobate  person,  no  matter  what  measure 
of  grace  the  latter  may  enjoy  in  time,  because  God  wills  that 
the  predestinate  have  perpetual  blessedness  and  the  repro- 


32  THE  CHURCH 

bate  eternal  fire.  Thus,  the  Psalmist  [5  :  6]  says:  "Thou 
hatest  all  who  work  iniquity."  Hence,  because  the  pride 
of  the  reprobate,  in  proportion  as  they  hate  God,  always 
ascends  after  final  impenitence,  they  are  not  of  Christ's 
body.  For  St.  Augustine  says:  Sermon  on  the  Lord's  Words, 
53  [Migne's  ed.,  354,  vol.  39  :  1568]:  "A  lowly  head  and  a 
proud  member !  Nay.  He  who  loves  pride  does  not  wish  to 
be  of  the  body  of  Christ  the  head."  And  again.  Sermon  50 
[Migne's  ed.,  138,  vol.  38  :  765],  he  says:  "Christ  spoke  truly 
in  regard  to  certain  shepherds,  for  he  holds  all  good  shepherds 
in  himself,  when  he  said:  'l  am  the  chief  Shepherd  and  all  ye 
are  one  in  me.'  ^  But  the  reprobate,  who  is  a  member  of  the 
devil,  is  not  duly  joined  together  in  the  same  structure  with  his 
head."  Augustine  also,  de  dod.  ChrisH,  3  :  32  [Nic.  Fathers, 
2  :  569],  after  he  shows  that  Christ  and  his  body,  which  is  the 
church,  are  one  person,  censures  Tychonius,^  who  in  his  second 
rule  calls  the  whole  human  family  the  twofold — hipariitum — 
body  of  the  Lord.  This,  he  says, ' '  was  no  proper  name  to  apply 
to  the  body  of  Christ.  That  in  truth  is  not  the  Lord's  body 
that  will  not  be  with  him  through  eternity.    Tychonius  ought 

*  Huss's  text  differs  from  Augustine's,  which  runs:  ego  sum  pastor  bonus,  etc. — 
"I  am  the  good  Shepherd.  I  am,  I  am  one.  All  are  one  with  me  in  unity. 
He  who  feeds  apart  from  me,  feeds  against  me.  He  who  gathers  not  with  me, 
scattereth  abroad.  Hear  how  greatly  this  unity  is  commended!  '  I  have  other 
sheep  which  are  not  of  this  fold.' "  Augustine  then  goes  on  to  say  that  "among 
the  nations  there  were  predestinate  persons,  who  were  not  of  the  people  of 
Israel  according  to  the  flesh.  These  will  not  be  outside  of  that  fold — ovile — 
for  he  must  bring  them  also  that  there  may  be  one  flock — grex — and  one  shep- 
herd." Here  Augustine  departs  from  the  text  of  the  Vulgate,  which  has  unum 
ovile — fold — in  both  places,  and  conforms  to  the  Greek  original,  which  has  two 
different  words. 

^Tychonius,  a  scholarly  North  African  belonging  to  the  Donatist  party, 
flourished  about  400  and  was  an  extensive  author.  Bede  quotes  him  as  es- 
sentially orthodox  except  on  the  question  of  the  Donatist  schism.  He  departed 
from  the  Donatist  teachings,  however,  in  denying  the  visible  millennial  reign 
of  one  thousand  years  and  in  accepting  non-Donatist  baptism.  Both  he  and 
Augustine  were  involved  in  the  confusion  of  identifying  the  true  church  with 
a  visible  communion,  although  both  made  the  church  a  mixed  body.  Tycho- 
nius set  forth  seven  rules  of  exegesis.  Huss's  quotation  is  drawn  from  Augus- 
tine's treatment  of  the  second  rule.  Tychonius's  Book  of  Rules  has  been  pub- 
lished by  Burkitt  in  Texts  and  Studies,  4:1,  1894. 


CHRIST  THE  ONLY  HEAD   OF  THE   CHURCH    33 

to  have  spoken  about  the  real  body  and  the  mixed  body  of 
Christ,  or  about  the  real  body  and  the  simulated  body,  for, 
not  only  through  eternity  but  now,  hypocrites  cannot  be  said 
to  be  with  him."  How  plainly  does  that  holy  man  show  that 
the  reprobate  are  not  truly  of  Christ's  church!  To  refer  to 
Augustine  again,  de  Pen.,  4  [Friedberg,  i  :  1230],  he  draws  the 
conclusion  that  no  one  belongs  to  Christ's  kingdom,  which  is 
the  church,  except  the  son  whom  the  Father  gave  to  him, 
about  whom  it  is  said,  John  3  :  16:  "That  he  should  not 
perish  but  have  everlasting  life."  Therefore,  he  says:  "Let  it 
not  move  us  that  God  does  not  give  to  some  sons  that  gift  of 
perseverance,  for  surely  this  could  not  be  the  case  if  these  were 
of  the  predestinate  and  of  those  who  are  the  called  according 
to  his  purpose,  who  are  truly  the  sons  of  promise.  But,  be- 
cause these  live  piously,  they  are  called  sons  of  God ;  but  those 
who  shall  continue  to  live  wickedly  and  shall  die  in  their 
wickedness,  these  he  does  not  call  sons." 

And  again  Augustine,  treating  the  words  of  I  John  2  :  18 
[Friedberg,  i  :  1231],  "They  went  out  from  us  but  were  not 
of  us,"  says:  "They  were  not  of  the  number  of  sons,  and  when 
did  they  have  the  faith  of  sons  ?  Because  those  who  are  true 
sons  are  foreknown  and  predestinate  to  be  conformed  to  the 
image  of  God's  Son  and  according  to  His  purpose  are  called 
to  be  holy  even  as  they  are  elect.  For  not  does  the  son  of  the 
promise  perish,  but  the  son  of  perdition.  These,  therefore, 
were  of  the  multitude  who  were  called  and  not  of  the  few  who 
were  chosen."  A  Httle  further  on  he  remarks:  "For  he  knew 
from  the  beginning  who  would  beHeve  on  him  and  who  would 
betray  him,  and  he  said:  'Therefore,  have  I  spoken  to  you, 
because  no  one  can  come  to  me,  except  it  be  given  him  of  my 
Father. '  After  that,  many  of  his  disciples  went  back  and  no 
longer  walked  with  him.  They  were  for  a  time  called  disciples 
in  the  Gospel,  nevertheless  they  were  not  true  disciples,  for 
they  did  not  abide  in  his  words  as  he  said:  'If  ye  shall  abide 
in  my  words,  then  are  ye  my  disciples.'    Therefore,  as  they 


34  THE  CHURCH 

did  not  have  perseverance,  they  were  not  Christ's  true  dis- 
ciples, and  so  they  were  not  true  children  of  God,  although 
for  a  time  they  seemed  to  be  so  and  were  called  so.  There- 
fore, we  call  those  the  elect,  disciples  of  Christ  and  God's 
children,  and  they  are  to  be  called  children  whom  we  see  liv- 
ing regenerate  and  pious  lives.  And  then  they  truly  are  what 
they  are  called  when  they  abide  in  that  on  account  of  which 
they  were  so  called  [which  is  the  ground  of  their  receiving 
these  names].  But  if  they  have  not  the  gift  of  perseverance, 
that  is,  do  not  abide  in  that  on  account  of  which  they  started 
out  to  be,  then  they  are  not  truly  called  on  account  of  that 
which  they  are  called  [for  that  which  gives  them  their  name], 
and  such  they  are  not  [that  is,  they  are  not  what  their  names 
indicate] ;  for  those  things  do  not  exist  with  Him  to  whom  is 
known  what  they  will  be  in  the  future,  that  is,  evil  persons 
who  have  proceeded  from  being  good"  [that  is,  from  being  by 
name  and  in  appearance  good  they  will  at  last  appear  to  be 
what  they  really  are,  namely,  evil].  Thus  much  St.  Augus- 
tine. How  clearly  does  not  he  show  that  many  are  in  the 
church  who  are  nominally  called  "sons"  by  men,  who  never- 
theless are  not  of  the  church,  for  they  are  not  truly  sons  of 
God  predestinated  unto  the  life  of  glory! 

This  also  is  made  plain  by  St.  Chrysostom  in  his  de  opere 
imperfedo,  Hom.  9,  who  says:  "Those  who  are  of  God  can- 
not perish,  because  no  one  can  pluck  them  out  of  God's  hand." 
This  appears  also  from  John  10  :  28:  "My  sheep  hear  my 
voice  and  I  know  them  and  they  follow  me,  and  I  give  unto 
them  eternal  Hfe  and  no  one  shall  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand." 
And  later  Christ,  the  best  of  teachers,  proves  by  the  greatness 
of  God's  gift,  which  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  no  one  is  able  to 
do  this,  because  his  Father  is  almighty,  and  from  his  hand 
no  one  is  able  to  pluck  anything.  But,  because  Christ  and 
his  Father  are  one  with  the  Holy  Spirit — who  is  Christ's  gift, 
by  whom  the  church  is  knit  together  with  him — therefore, 
no  one  is  able  to  pluck  his  sheep  out  of  his  hand.    For  he  him- 


CHRIST  THE  ONLY  HEAD   OF  THE   CHURCH    35 

self  from  eternity  has  chosen  every  member  of  his  church  into 
the  bridal  relation.  Therefore  he  will  desert  no  such  member; 
because,  if  this  were  not  so,  he  would  choose  without  foresight 
and  proper  provision  to  glory.  And  to  this  the  conclusion  of 
the  great  philosopher  applies  when  he  says  of  the  reprobate 
who  abode  for  a  time  in  grace:  "If  they  had  been  of  us,  they 
would  have  continued  with  us,"  I  John  2  :  19.  For  this  con- 
ditional clause  cannot  be  impossible  or  heretical,  for  it  is 
formulated  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  To  this  text  may  be  added 
Matt.  10  :  20,  "It  is  not  ye  who  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of 
your  Father  which  speaketh  in  you";  and  also  Romans  8  :  35, 
where  the  apostle,  as  I  have  quoted  above,  speaking  of  him- 
self and  of  the  predestinate  who  are  members  of  the  church, 
proves  that  no  creature  shall  be  able  to  separate  them  from 
the  love  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  he  gathers  his  mem- 
bers together  gently,  for  the  love  of  predestination  does  not 
fail,  I  Cor.  13.  Hence  the  apostle  says:  "Ye  are  not  in  the 
flesh  but  in  the  Spirit,  if  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth 
in  you.  But  if  any  one  hath  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is 
none  of  his,"  Roman  8  :  9.  And  he  understands  that  such 
an  one  is  not  a  part  of  his  body. 

And  if,  after  all,  it  be  objected  that  the  reprobate  living 
in  this  present  time  in  love  has  this  bond  [of  perfectness]  and 
consequently  is  united  with  Christ,  and  the  predestinate 
living  in  sin  lacks  this  bond  and  consequently  is  not  united 
with  Christ,  it  is  evident  that,  as  in  the  human  body  there 
is  fluid  moisture  and  a  radical  moisture,  so  in  Christ's  mystical 
body  there  is,  so  it  must  be  granted,  a  grace  according  to 
present  righteousness  and  also  a  perfecting  grace.  As  ulcers 
develop  and  display  themselves  through  the  moist  fluid  and 
are  not  continuous  on  account  of  a  difference  of  nature  [from 
the  body  itself],  so  for  the  present  it  is  with  the  members  of  the 
devil  who  are  known  according  to  present  righteousness.  But 
the  predestinate,  although  they  may  be  for  a  time  deprived 
of  fluent  grace,  nevertheless  have  radical  and  abiding  grace, 


36  THE  CHURCH 

from  which  they  cannot  fall  away,  and  so  the  predestinate, 
being  now  righteous  and  having  twofold  grace,  are  bound  by 
a  twofold  bond. 

But  here  the  objection  is  made  that,  in  view  of  the  things 
said  above,  we  ought  to  grant  that  at  one  and  the  same 
time  the  same  person  may  be  righteous  and  unrighteous, 
one  of  the  faithful  and  an  unbeliever,  a  true  Christian  and  a 
heretic,  in  abounding  grace  and  without  grace^  (not  to  use 
other  such  contradictory  expressions),  it  follows  that  there 
is  a  manifest  contradiction.  In  this  objection  it  is  said  that 
it  should  be  granted  that  the  same  person  is  at  one  and  the 
same  time  both  righteous  and  unrighteous;  but  it  is  in- 
consistent with  the  truth,  that  the  same  person  is  at  one  and 
the  same  time  both  righteous  and  unrighteous  in  respect  to  the 
same  thing.  Even  as  contraries  cannot  at  one  and  the  same 
time  inhere  in  the  same  person  in  respect  to  the  same  thing, 
so  the  names  given  above  are,  on  account  of  their  ambiguity, 
not  contrary  one  to  the  other,  for,  according  to  the  Philoso- 
pher^  only  one  thing  can  be  opposed  to  one  thing,  and  so  the 
same  man  is  righteous  by  virtue  of  predestinating  grace  and 
unrighteous  by  virtue  of  destructive  vice,  as  was  Peter  in  his 
denial  of  Christ  and  Paul  in  his  persecution  of  him.  For  they 
were  at  that  time  not  fallen  away  from  the  love  of  predesti- 
nation. Consequently  they  were,  in  view  of  this  love,  in  grace 
and  therefore  righteous;  and  because  they  were  at  that  time 
in  sin  they  were  deprived  of  fluent  temporal  grace  and  there- 
fore were  unrighteous.  And  if  the  inference  be  drawn:  there- 
fore they  were  at  that  time  not  righteous  and  consequently 
were  not  righteous  at  all,  the  inference  is  drawn  by  denying 
the  first  consequence.  For  a  consequence  which  is  drawn  by 
proceeding  from  a  denial  to  a  negation  does  not  hold  except 
with    modification    as    follows  in  this  proposition,   namely: 

1  Here,  as  a  little  further  down,  Huss  uses  the  Greek  acharis. 

2  Aristotle,  whom  the  Schoolmen  regarded  as  the  forerunner  of  Christian 
truth  in  method  and  knowledge  of  natural  things — precursor  Christi  in  naturali- 
bus. 


CHRIST  THE  ONLY  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH  37 

Peter  and  Paul  were  unrighteous;  therefore,  according  to 
present  grace,  they  were  not  righteous.  This  conclusion  is 
true.  As  it  was  properly  conceded  that  they  were  righteous 
according  to  the  grace  of  predestination  and  were  not  righteous 
according  to  present  grace,  so,  in  a  similar  way,  Paul  was  one 
of  the  faithful  in  view  of  predestination  and  one  of  the  un- 
faithful by  reason  of  his  persecution,  an  Israelite  by  predes- 
tination and  a  blasphemer  by  the  law  of  present  unrighteous- 
ness, was  in  the  love  of  predestination  and  yet  was  without 
grace,  that  is,  without  the  love  of  present  righteousness. 

Paul's  own  words,  drawn  from  Hosea,  confirm  this:  "I 
will  call  that  my  people  which  was  not  my  people,  and  her  my 
beloved  that  was  not  my  beloved;  and  her  to  have  acquired 
mercy  which  did  not  acquire  mercy,  and  in  the  place  where  it 
was  said  unto  them.  Ye  are  not  my  people,  there  shall  they 
be  called  the  sons  of  the  living  God,"  Romans  9  :  25,  27. 
Hence  it  is  evident  that  this  Scripture  and  other  Scripture 
like  it  are  not  understood  except  by  those  who  know  that  there 
is  not  a  contradiction,  unless  opposites  are  predicated  of  the 
same  person  according  to  the  same  thing  and  for  the  same 
instant  of  time.  Those  who  know  how  to  carry  on  such  dis- 
cussion acknowledge  that  Christ  was  both  dead  and  alive 
during  the  three  days;  yea,  as  Ambrose  says:  "He  was  dead 
and  was  not  dead,  for  he  lived  in  the  spirit  and  was  dead  in 
the  flesh;  died  as  a  man  and  did  not  die  as  God."  So  the 
apostle  says,  I  Tim.  5  :  6,  that  "a  widow  living  in  pleasure  is 
dead  while  she  liveth,"  because  she  lives  in  the  flesh  but  does 
not  live  in  the  spirit.  It  is  clear  that  neither  what  is  contrary 
nor  self-contradictory  follows. 

Finally,  to  sum  up  what  has  been  said,  it  is  evident  that 
no  reprobate  is  truly  a  part  of  holy  mother  church.  For,  if 
St.  Thomas^  or  any  one  else  should  be  found  to  call  a  repro- 
bate who  is  in  grace  a  member  of  the  church,  then  he  is  speak- 
ing ambiguously  with  Augustine  and  sacred  Scripture,  giving 
*  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  angelic  doctor,  d.  1274. 


38  THE   CHURCH 

heed  to  the  popular  mode  of  speech  and  the  popular  notion 
of  the  militant  church.  Hence  it  was  stated  above  that  St. 
Augustine  said  [DisL  4:8,  de  Pen.;  Friedberg,  i  :  1232]: 
"If  they  have  not  perseverance,  that  is,  if  they  do  not  abide 
in  that  for  which  they  started  out  to  be,  then  they  are  not 
truly  called  what  they  are  called,  and  they  are  not  what  they 
are  called.  For  these  things  do  not  exist  for  Him  who  knows 
what  they  will  be  in  the  future,  that  is,  evil  persons  who  have 
proceeded  from  being  good" — ex  bonis  mali.  This  saying  of 
Augustine  should  stand  against  all  objections  wherein  am- 
biguity is  to  be  noted. 


CHAPTER  V 
GOOD    AND    BAD    IN   THE    CHURCH 

In  answer  to  the  proofs  cited  in  Chapter  III,  urging  the 
contrary  to  what  is  here  laid  down,  this  is  to  be  said:  To 
understand  them  we  must  be  on  our  guard  to  note  that  men 
are  said  to  be  in  holy  church  in  different  senses.  For  some  are 
said  to  be  in  it  by  virtue  of  an  unformed  faith^  only,  as  are 
reprobate  Christians  involved  in  sins,  to  whom  the  Lord  said : 
"Why  call  ye  me  Lord,  Lord,  and  do  not  the  things  which  I 
bid  you?"  Luke  6  :  46.  And  of  them  he  also  said,  "Many 
will  say  unto  me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  did  we  not  prophesy 
by  thy  name,  and  by  thy  name  cast  out  demons,  and  by  thy 
name  do  many  mighty  works?  and  then  will  I  profess  unto 
them,  I  never  knew  you,"  namely,  as  persons  to  be  saved, 
Matt.  7  :  22.  Hence  Psalm  6  :  9  says:  "Depart  from  me  all 
ye  workers  of  iniquity." 

Some  are  in  the  church  only  according  to  present  faith 

*  Fides  informis,  as  opposed  to  fides  formata,  that  is,  faith  working  by  love, 
or,  as  we  might  say,  intellectual  belief  and  living  faith.  The  distinction  of  for- 
mata and  informis  was  first  made  by  Peter  the  Lombard.  In  his  Com.  on  Peter  the 
Lombard,  Huss  treats  the  subject  at  length,  pp.  452-455,  defining  the  different 
sorts  of  faith.  He  says,  to  believe  God,  credere  Deo,  is  to  believe  that  the 
things  He  says  are  true.  Such  faith  the  wicked  have.  To  believe  God,  credere 
Deum,  is  to  believe  that  He  is  God.  To  believe  in  God,  credere  in  Detim,  is  by 
believing  to  love  Him.  The  faith  which  the  demons  and  bad  men  have  is  a 
quality  of  the  intellect,  but  it  is  unformed,  informis,  faith  because  it  is  unac- 
companied by  love,  and  this  imformed  faith  is  an  acquired  habit  and  not  a 
habit  infused  from  above.  This  fides  informis  precedes  hope  and  love,  but  the 
fides  formata  is  contemporary  with  hope  and  love.  Peter  the  Lombard,  4  :  23, 
quotes  Ambrose  as  saying:  "Love  is  the  mother  of  all  virtues,  which  forms  all 
within  us — informal — and  without  which  there  is  no  virtue."  Luther  de- 
nounces this  distinction  as  a  pestilential  ecclesiastical  invention.  Denifle,  in 
his  Life  of  Luther,  i  :  637  sqq.,  makes  the  astoimding  assertion  that  the  faith 
which  Luther  required  was  simply  an  intellectual  assent — faith  without  love  and 
the  works  of  love. 

39 


40  THE   CHURCH 

and  grace,  as  the  reprobate  righteous,  who  are  not  in  the 
church  by  virtue  of  predestination  to  life  eternal.  Others 
are  in  the  church  by  virtue  of  predestination  only,  as  are  un- 
baptized  children  of  Christian  parents  and  pagans,  or  Jews 
destined  to  be  Christians  in  the  future.  Others  are  in  the 
church  by  virtue  of  an  unformed  faith  and  predestination, 
as  are  predestinate  Christians  who  are  now  in  sins,  but  will 
return  to  grace.  Others  are  in  the  church  by  virtue  of  pre- 
destination and  present  grace,  as  are  all  predestinate  Christians 
who  imitate  Christ  in  their  lives,  who,  however,  may  in  this 
life  fall  away  from  fluent  [operating]  grace.  Still  others  are 
in  the  church  now  triumphant,  confirmed  in  grace.  But  all 
are  divided  into  the  reprobate  and  the  predestinate,  the  former 
being  ultimately  the  members  of  the  devil  and  the  others 
members  of  the  mystical  body  which  is  the  holy  church,  the 
bride  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

'  Therefore,  in  the  first  proof  taken  from  the  net,  the  pre- 
destinate are  represented  by  the  good  fish,  and  the  reprobate 
by  the  bad  fish  which  they  cast  out.  On  this  Gregory  [Migne, 
76  :  1 1 16]  has  this  to  say:  "Holy  church  is  compared  to  a 
net  cast  into  the  sea,  for  she  also  is  committed  to  fishermen. 
This  is  the  first  resemblance,  and  by  her  every  one  is  drawn 
from  the  waves  of  this  present  age  into  the  eternal  kingdom, 
namely  by  call,  lest  he  be  drowned  in  the  depths  of  eternal 
death.  This  is  the  second  resemblance.  She  gathers  together 
fish  of  every  kind,  because  she  calls  to  the  forgiveness  of  sins 
the  wise  and  the  foolish,  the  free  and  the  bond,  the  poor  and 
the  rich,  the  strong  and  the  weak.  This  is  the  third  re- 
semblance." 

Therefore,  let  the  false  writer  be  on  his  guard  against 
inferring  that,  because  holy  church  gathers  together  by  her 
call  men  of  every  kind,  therefore  all  men  are  called  to  faith 
which  is  in  Christ  and  are  members  of  holy  church,  Christ's 
bride.  Hence  St.  Gregory  conclusively  shows  who  are  the 
elect  and  who  are  the  reprobate,  when  he  says  that  "at  the  end 


GOOD  AND  BAD   IN  THE  CHURCH  41 

of  the  world  the  good  fish  will  be  gathered  into  vessels,  but 
the  bad  cast  out,  because  every  elect  person  is  received  into 
everlasting  habitations,  and  the  reprobate,  having  lost  the 
light  of  the  eternal  realm,  are  cast  into  outer  darkness.  For 
now  the  net  of  faith  holds  the  good — that  is,  the  elect — and 
the  evil — that  is,  the  reprobate — mingled  together,  Hke  the 
fishes.  This  is  the  fourth  resemblance.  And  the  net  which 
she  drew,  namely,  by  the  call  of  faith,  represents  the  shore  of 
holy  church."  And  St.  Gregory  adds:  "And  the  fish  of  the 
sea  which  were  caught  cannot  be  numbered.  But  we  who  are 
bad  when  we  are  caught  are  thoroughly  changed  in  the  ele- 
ment of  goodness."  In  this  he  finds  a  sign  that  the  wicked 
who  are  predestinate  are  permanently  and  thoroughly  changed 
into  what  is  good.  Therefore,  the  voice  of  St.  Gregory  is  the 
voice  of  the  predestinate  who,  being  smitten  with  badness,  are 
through  baptism  and  penance  called  back  by  holy  church  to 
goodness. 

From  these  things  is  evident  the  exposition  of  the  second 
proof  from  the  parable  of  the  marriage  supper,  in  which  are 
gathered  by  faith  the  good  and  the  bad,  who  are  mingled  in 
holy  church.  But  the  bad  are  not  true  sons,  just  as  those  are 
not  true  friends,  because  they  lack  the  marriage  garment, 
which  is  predestinating  love.  Hence  the  king  of  the  wedding 
will  say  to  them,  as  he  said  to  the  one:  "Friend,  why  did'st 
thou  come  in  hither  not  having  a  wedding-garment?"  At 
this  point  Gregory  says:  "It  is  very  remarkable,  my  dear 
friends,  that  he  at  one  and  the  same  time  calls  this  one  friend 
and  condemns  him,  as  if  he  might  more  aptly  say:  'Friend  and 
no-friend — friend  by  faith  and  no-friend  by  works.'"  Thus 
much  Gregory  [Migne,  76  :  1289]. 

The  exposition  of  the  third  proof  is  clear  because  they 
gather  up  from  the  kingdom  of  holy  church  all  that  ofifend, 
that  is,  those  who  commit  iniquity,  namely,  the  sin  of  final  im- 
penitence [the  parable  of  the  tares,  Matt.  13  :  41].  Here  the 
reprobate  are  referred  to. 


42  THE  CHURCH 

As  to  the  fourth  proof,  which  runs,  "Whosoever  therefore 
shall  do  one  of  these  least  commandments" — to  this  St. 
Augustine  aptly  replies.  Com.  on  John  21  :  ii  [Nic.  Fathers, 
7  :  443],  where  Simon  Peter  is  said  to  draw  "the  net  to 
land  full  of  great  fishes,  a  hundred  and  fifty  and  three."  St. 
Augustine  says:  "'Whosoever  will  break  one  of  these  least 
commandments  and  shall  teach  men  so,  shall  be  called  least 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  but  whoso  shall  do  and  teach  them 
shall  be  called  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  The  latter, 
therefore,  would  belong  to  the  number  of  the  great  fishes. 
But  the  former,  that  is,  'the  least,'  who  in  act  breaks  what  he 
teaches  in  word,  may  be  in  such  a  church,  which  contains 
those  who  are  represented  by  that  first  catch  of  fishes,  which 
had  both  bad  and  good,  because  this  catch  is  also  called  the 
kingdom  of  heaven — for  he  said,  'The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  unto  a  net  cast  into  the  sea,  which  gathers  in  all  kinds  of 
fish, '  a  parable  by  which  he  wishes  both  the  good  and  the  bad 
to  be  understood.  And  of  these  he  says  that  they  are  to  be 
separated  on  the  shore,  namely,  at  the  end  of  the  world. 
Then,  in  order  to  show  that  these  'least'  are  the  reprobate,  who 
teach  good  things  with  their  lips  and  break  them  by  their  bad 
living,  and  will  not  be  as  the  'least'  in  the  future  in  the  life 
eternal,  yea  will  not  be  there  at  all,  for  he  had  said,  'He  shall 
be  called  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven/ — Christ  went  on 
to  say:  'For  I  say  unto  you,  except  your  righteousness  shall 
exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall 
not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  Certainly,  these  are 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees  who  sit  in  Moses'  seat  and  of  whom 
Christ  said:  'Whatsoever  things  they  say,  these  do  ye,  but 
whatsoever  things  they  do,  these  do  not  ye,  for  they  say  and 
do  not,'  Matt.  23  :  2.  They  teach  in  words  what  they  break 
in  their  lives.  Therefore  the  conclusion  is  that  he  who  is 
'least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,'  the  church  now  being  made 
up  of  such  as  it  is,  will  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
the  church  being  then  what  it  is  to  be;  because,  in  teaching 


GOOD  AND  BAD   IN  THE  CHURCH  43 

the  things  which  he  is  in  the  habit  of  breaking,  he  will  not 
belong  to  the  company  of  those  who  practise  what  they  teach. 
Therefore,  will  this  one  not  be  of  the  number  of  the  great 
fishes,  for  he  who  both  practises  and  teaches,  he  shall  be 
called  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  because  he  was 
great  here,  therefore  he  will  be  in  the  place  where  that  least 
person  is  not.  Yea,  and  so  very  great  will  they  be  there  [that 
is,  in  heaven]  that  the  one  who  there  is  the  least  is  greater 
than  he  than  whom  here  no  one  is  greater.  Nevertheless  those 
who  are  great  here,  that  is,  those  who  are  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  where  the  net  gathers  together  the  good  and  the  bad, 
and  do  the  good  things  they  teach — these  shall  be  the  greater 
in  that  eternal  kingdom  of  heaven,  even  those  who  belong  at 
God's  right  hand  and  to  the  resurrection  of  life,  and  those  are 
they  whom  the  fish  represent."    Thus  far  Augustine. 

Augustine's  words  have  the  same  meaning  as  the  words 
of  Gregory,  namely,  that  the  church  gathers  together  the  elect 
and  the  reprobate  in  the  faith;  and,  secondly,  that  those  who 
teach  in  the  church  and  fill  its  seats  of  dignity  and  break  God's 
commandments  are  reprobate.  For  he  says:  ** Finally,  in 
order  to  show  that  those  least  are  the  reprobate,  who  teach 
good  things  with  their  lips  and  break  them  with  bad  living, 
they  will  not  only  not  be  as  the  least  in  the  eternal  life  in  the 
future,  but  will  not  be  there  at  all."  In  the  third  place, 
he  teaches  that  faithful  Christians,  doing  God's  commands, 
indeed  are  great  in  God's  holy  church,  and  that  prelates  who 
occupy  commanding  offices  and  break  the  commandments 
are  the  least;  and,  if  they  are  reprobate,  then  they  will  not  ]^^ 
in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Therefore,  let  the  disciples  of  anti- 
christ blush  who  Hve  contrary  to  Christ  and  yet  say  they  are 
the  greatest  in  God's  holy  church  and  are  most  proud,  and  who, 
flourishing  in  public  places  by  the  covetousness  and  haughti- 
ness of  this  world,  are  called  the  heads  and  the  body  of  holy 
church,  but  who,  according  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  deserve 
to  be  called  the  least.    The  fourth  teaching  is  that  the  hun- 


44  THE   CHURCH 

dred  and  fifty  and  three  great  fishes,  caught  on  the  right  side 
of  the  boat,  stand  for  the  predestinate,  amongst  whom,  other 
things  being  equal,  are  the  greater  ones  who  teach  and  do 
God's  commandments. 

As  for  the  fifth  proof  from  the  Gospel:  "He  shall  baptize 
you  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  etc.,"  it  is  conceded  that  holy  church 
is  the  Lord's  threshing-floor  in  which  are  now  mingled  together 
in  virtue  of  faith  the  good  and  the  bad,  predestinate  and 
reprobate;  the  predestinate  as  the  wheat,  and  the  reprobate 
as  the  chaff.  The  first  shall  be  gathered  into  the  heavenly 
garner,  the  rest  burnt  with  fixe  unquenchable,  as  say  the 
Gospel  and  Augustine's  exposition.  And  as  the  chaff  always 
remains  chafif,  so  a  reprobate  always  remains  reprobate,  even 
though  for  a  time  he  may  be  in  grace  according  to  present 
righteousness.  Nevertheless,  he  is  never  a  part  of  holy  church. 
And  just  as  the  wheat  always  remains  wheat,  so  the  predesti- 
nate always  remains  predestinate  and  a  member  of  the  church, 
howbeit  for  a  time  he  may  fall  away  from  accidental  grace, 
but  never  from  the  grace  of  predestination.  On  this  subject 
Augustine,  32  :  4,  C  Recurrat  [Friedberg,  i  :  11 27],  thus 
expresses  himself:  "Therefore,  whether  they  seem  to  be  turned 
over  within  or  are  evidently  outside,  what  is  flesh  is  flesh  ;^ 
or  whether  they  continue  in  their  sterility  on  the  threshing- 
floor  or  are  carried  away  on  occasion  of  temptation  as  by  a 
wind  without,  what  is  chafif  is  chaff";  and  he  will  always  be 
separated  from  the  unity  of  the  church,  which  is  without  spot 
and  wrinkle,  who  continues  in  carnal  obduracy  and  is  mingled 
with  the  company  of  the  saints.  Nevertheless,  of  no  one 
should  we  despair,  neither  of  him  who  appears  to  be  of  this 
kind  and  is  within,  nor  of  him  who  is  outside  and  is  more 
manifestly  whirled  about.  "^    Thus  much  Augustine. 

'  I  have  corrected  Huss's  text  from  the  text  of  the  Corp.  jiir.  can.  For  ex- 
ample, Huss  has  qui  carior  est,  carior  est  for  quod  caro  est  caro  est,  and  veritate 
for  imitate.  The  first  part  of  the  passage,  "to  turn  within,"  has  some  reference 
to  the  time  before  birth,  in  the  womb.  Augustine  has  been  speaking  of  Re- 
becca and  the  births  of  Jacob  and  Esau,  and  also  of  Sarah  and  Hagar. 

^  Huss  text  has  manijestus  and  above  veritate  for  unitate — unity  of  the  church. 


GOOD  AND  BAD  IN  THE  CHURCH  45 

Hence,  John  the  Baptist  aptly  says  that  *'he  will  purge," 
that  is,  on  the  day  of  judgment,  "his  threshing-floor,"  that  is, 
holy  church,  and  "gather  the  wheat  into  the  garner,"  namely, 
the  predestinate  into  the  heavenly  country;  but  "the  chaff," 
namely,  the  reprobate,  "he  will  burn  with  fire  unquench- 
able." And  Augustine,  commenting  in  his  Letter  to  Peter  on 
Faith  [Migne,  40  :  777],  as  already  quoted,  says:  "Hold  fast 
most  tenaciously  and  never  doubt  that  God's  threshing-floor 
is  the  catholic  church,  and  that  unto  the  end  of  the  world  will 
be  found  in  it  chaff  mixed  with  wheat.  Here  also  the  wicked 
and  the  good  are  mingled  in  the  communion  of  the  sacraments; 
and  in  every  calling,  whether  of  clerics  or  laymen,  there  are 
both  good  and  bad."  And  further  on  he  says:  "But  in  the 
end  of  the  world  the  good  are  to  be  separated  with  the  body 
from  the  bad,  when  Christ  shall  come  with  his  fan  in  his  hand 
and  shall  purge  his  threshing-floor  and  gather  the  wheat  into 
the  garner  and  burn  the  chaff  with  fire  unquenchable,  yea, 
when  by  righteous  judgment  he  shall  separate  the  righteous 
from  the  unrighteous,  the  good  from  the  wicked,  the  strait 
from  the  crooked.  The  good  he  will  place  at  his  right  hand, 
and  the  wicked  at  his  left.  And  from  his  mouth  will  go  forth 
a  sentence,  unending  and  immutable,  of  righteous  and  eternal 
judgment,  and  all  the  wicked  will  go  into  eternal  burning,  but 
the  righteous  into  life  eternal.  The  wicked  will  always  be 
burning  with  the  devil,  the  righteous  be  reigning  without 
end  [with  Christ]."^  Thus  far  Augustine.  From  the  ex- 
position of  the  saints  it  is  clear  how  in  Christ's  parables  the 
reprobate  are  symbolized  by  the  bad  fishes,  by  the  bad  guests 
at  the  wedding,  by  the  man  not  clad  in  a  wedding-garment 
at  the  feast,  by  the  chaff,  by  the  tares,  by  the  bad  seed,  by  the 
evil  tree,  by  the  foolish  virgins,  and  by  the  goats.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  an  opposite  way,  the  predestinate  are  sym- 
bolized by  the  good  fishes,  the  good  guests,  the  man  clad  in  a 

'  "With  Christ,"  a  part  of  the  original,  is  omitted  by  Huss.  The  quotation 
is  not  from  Augustine,  but  from  Fulgentius's  Letter  to  Peter  the  Deacon.  See 
note,  chap.  III. 


46  THE   CHURCH 

wedding-garment,  by  the  wheat,  the  good  seed,  the  good  tree, 
the  wise  virgins,  and  the  sheep. 

Reflecting  upon  these  things,  the  faithful  should  be  on 
his  guard  against  this  conclusion:  the  reprobate  are  in  God's 
holy  church,  therefore  they  are  a  part  of  it.  For  it  has  al- 
ready been  said  that  it  is  one  thing  to  be  in  the  church  and 
another  to  be  of  the  church  or  to  be  a  part  or  member  of  the 
church.  For  as  it  does  not  follow,  because  the  chaff  and  the 
tares  are  among  the  wheat  or  mixed  up  with  the  wheat, 
therefore  the  chaff  is  the  wheat,  so  the  conclusion  does  not 
follow  in  the  above  proposition.  Similarly  as  it  does  not 
follow  that,  because  ordure  or  a  sore  is  in  the  body  of  a  man, 
therefore  it  is  a  part  of  his  body,  so  it  does  not  foUow  that 
because  a  reprobate  is  in  Christ's  mystical  body  of  the  church, 
therefore  he  is  a  part  of  it.  Again,  the  following  conclusion 
is  not  valid,  namely:  he  is  in  grace  according  to  righteous- 
ness, therefore  he  is  a  member  or  a  part  of  the  holy  catholic 
church.  But  this  is  right  reasoning,  namely :  a  man  is  in  the 
grace  of  predestination,  therefore  he  is  a  part  or  member  of 
holy  church.  And  again  this  reasoning  is  not  valid:  Peter 
is  in  sin,  therefore  he  is  not  a  part  or  member  of  the  holy 
church.  But  it  is  good  reasoning  to  say  that  at  that  time 
he  was  not  in  the  church  according  to  the  grace  of  present 
righteousness.  Arguing  of  this  kind  will  be  understood  by  re- 
flecting what  it  is  to  be  in  the  church  and  what  it  is  to  be  a 
member  or  part  of  the  church;  and  that  it  is  predestination 
which  makes  one  a  member  of  the  holy  catholic  church,  which 
predestination  is  the  preparation  of  grace  in  the  present 
time  and  of  glory  in  the  future.  No  place  of  dignity,  no 
human  election,  and  no  other  outward  sign  makes  one  a 
member  of  the  church.  For  the  devil  Iscariot,  who  did  not 
refuse  Christ's  election  and  the  temporal  charisms  given 
unto  him  by  virtue  of  his  apostolate  and  episcopate — even 
though  the  people  believed  that  he  was  one  of  Christ's  true 
disciples — was  not  a  true  disciple  of  Christ,  but  a  wolf  clad 


GOOD  AND  BAD  IN  THE  CHURCH  47 

in  sheep's  clothing,  as  Augustine  says;  and  consequently 
he  was  not  predestinate  and  so  not  a  part  of  the  church,  the 
bride  of  Christ. 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  it  would  be  a  great  presumption 
for  any  one  without  revelation  and  godly  fear  to  assert  of 
himself  that  he  is  a  member  of  that  holy  church.  For  no  one 
except  the  predestinate,  in  his  time  without  spot  or  wrinkle, 
is  a  member  of  that  church.  No  one,  however,  without  godly 
fear  or  revelation  may  assert  of  himself  that  he  is  predes- 
tinate, and  holy  without  spot  or  wrinkle.  Hence  the  con- 
clusion is  properly  drawn.  Wherefore  it  is  exceedingly  won- 
derful with  what  effrontery  they  who  are  given  up  to  the  world, 
live  completely  a  worldly  and  vicious  life,  removed  from 
companionship  with  Christ,  and  even  more  barren  in  the  ful- 
j&lment  of  Christ's  counsels  and  precepts — that  they  assert 
without  godly  fear  that  they  are  heads  or  the  body  or  the 
chief  members  of  the  church,  which  is  Christ's  bride.  Do  we 
ever  think  that  these  are  without  spot  of  mortal  sin  or  wrinkle 
of  venial  sin?  By  forsaking  Christ's  counsels,  by  neglect 
of  their  sacred  office,  and  by  their  works  they  teach  that  we 
should  rather  feel  the  opposite,  for  the  bridegroom  of  the 
church  says,  *'By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  Matt. 
7  :  20,  and  "believe  the  works,"  John  10  :  t,8,  and  "do  not 
after  their  works,  for  they  say  and  do  not,"  Matt.  23  :  2. 

But  against  these  things  the  objection  is  raised,  first,  on 
the  ground  that  every  cleric,  being  stamped  with  the  clerical 
character  or  the  outward  sign  by  a  prelate  in  the  judgment 
of  the  church,  is  a  part  of  holy  mother  church,  and  alone  the 
body  of  such  clerics  is  by  antonomasia^  called  the  church, 
which  (body)  we  ought  especially  to  honor,  because  otherwise 
it  would  follow  that  Christians  would  not  recognize  their 
mother.     Yea,  and,  thus  not  being  recognized,  they  would  not 

'  A  rhetorical  term  for  the  substitution  of  a  title  for  a  general  term,  as  "  his 
honor"  for  "judge."  Wyclif  also  uses  it,  de  Eccles.,  i  :  400.  In  the  first  case 
he  says:  "Christ's  bride  is  antonomatically  our  mother." 


48  THE   CHURCH 

pay  to  it  the  material  gifts  due,  such  as  oblations  and  tithes, 
and  in  consequence  inordinate  confusion  would  follow  in  the 
church  militant. 

Here,  by  way  of  denying  the  antecedent  statement,  it  is 
said:  An  instance  is  furnished  in  the  case  of  Judas,  chosen  for 
the  service  of  the  episcopate  by  Christ,  who  could  not  err. 
For  that  reprobate  never  was  Christ's  true  disciple,  as  Augus- 
tine shows,  but  a  wolf  clad  in  sheep's  clothing,  and  he  was  al- 
ways chaff  and  a  grain  of  weed  or  tares.  Similarly,  the  second 
part  of  the  antecedent  is  denied.  For  the  church  is  by  an- 
tonomasia  called  the  bride  of  Christ,  which  is  the  totahty 
of  the  predestinate,  as  has  already  been  said.  For,  if  that 
totality  is  in  the  highest  sense  the  bride  of  Christ,  then  the 
church  herself  is  holy,  for  she  is  the  one  dove  and  the  queen 
standing  at  the  King's  right  hand,  to  whom  the  young  virgins 
are  led.  Wherefore,  as  in  the  days  when  Christ  walked  on 
the  earth  and  companied  with  the  clergy,  the  high  priests, 
priests  and  Pharisees — the  difTerent  grades  of  the  priesthood — 
observing  the  traditions  of  their  own  making,  and  asserting 
that  they  had  God  for  their  Father  and  that  they  were  of 
Abraham's  seed,  and  at  no  time  served  any  man  and  en- 
joying a  reputation  among  the  people,  did  not  do  all  these 
things,  so  that  the  clergy  might  by  antonomasia  and  truly  be 
called  the  holy  church,  inasmuch  as  Christ  himself  said  of 
them.  Matt.  15  :  14,  that  the  disciples  should  allow  them  to 
take  offense,  because  "they  were  blind  leaders  of  the  blind," 
so  also  it  is  certain  that  a  particular  multitude  of  the  clergy 
is  not  the  holy  church  simply  because  it  chooses  to  affirm  it- 
self to  be  the  holy  church.  Such  conclusions,  it  is  plain,  do 
not  follow.  In  the  first,  the  inference  was  drawn  [that  the 
clergy  is  the  church]  because  otherwise  it  would  follow  that 
Christians  would  not  be  able  to  recognize  their  mother.  For 
we  must  know  our  mother  by  faith,  just  as  we  know  the 
church  triumphant,  Christ  and  also  his  mother  by  faith,  and 
likewise  Christ's  apostles  and  all  the  blessed  angels  and  the 


GOOD  AND   BAD   IN  THE  CHURCH  49 

multitude  of  saints.  But  we  know  imperfectly  and  indis- 
tinctly enough  those  who  are  now  pilgrims  and  those  who  are 
sleeping.  But  when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come  that  which 
is  in  part  shall  vanish  away,  because  in  heaven  we  shall  dis- 
tinguish our  mother  clearly  and  also  her  individual  members. 
And  let  not  the  faithful  [Christian]  complain  but  rejoice  in 
the  truth  that  holy  mother  church  is  to  so  great  a  degree  un- 
known to  him  here  on  the  way,  because  over  him  stands  the 
merit  of  Christian  faith.  For,  according  to  the  apostle,  Heb. 
II  :  I,  ''Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  as- 
surance of  things  which  do  not  appear,"  that  is,  which  do  not 
appear  palpably  to  our  senses  here  on  the  pilgrim  way.  And 
the  ground  of  predestination  or  of  charity,  which  never  faileth 
and  which  is  the  nuptial  garment,  distinguishing  a  member  of 
the  church  from  a  member  of  the  devil,  we  do  not  here  by  our 
senses  discern.  For,  according  to  Augustine,  "an  act  of  faith 
is  believing  what  thou  dost  not  see."  And  the  very  opposite 
of  the  second  conclusion  is  clear.  For  we  pay  what  is  due  to 
holy  church  when  we,  who  have  Christ  as  our  supreme  pontiff, 
provide  with  temporal  gifts  for  their  material  support  Christ's 
ministers,  whom  by  an  indistinct  faith  we  respect  as  ministers 
and  fathers  for  their  works'  sake,  and  whom  we  by  uncertain 
knowledge  regard  as  members  of  Christ. 

And,  if  it  be  objected  that  a  layman  is  expected  and  bound 
to  believe  of  his  prelates  that  they  are  the  heads  of  the  church 
and  parts  of  the  church  either  by  virtue  of  predestination  or 
present  righteousness,  it  is  to  be  said  in  reply  that  a  layman 
is  not  expected  to  believe  anything  of  his  superior  except  what 
is  true.  |lt  is  clear  that  no  one  is  held  to  believe  anything 
which  he  is  not  moved  by  God  to  believe.  But  God  does 
not  move  a  man  to  believe  what  is  false.  Howbeit  good  may 
come  by  a  false  faith  under  certain  circumstances,  and  how- 
beit God  moves  to  the  essence  of  an  act,  nevertheless,  God 
does  not  so  move  a  man  that  the  man  is  deceived^  There- 
fore, if  a  layman  believes  about  his  prelate  that  he  is  a  holy 


50  THE  CHURCH 

member  of  the  church  while  in  fact  he  is  not,  his  faith  or  his 
believing  will  be  false.  Therefore,  a  pastor  is  expected,  by 
giving  instruction  in  works  that  are  more  virtuous,  to  in- 
fluence those  under  him  to  believe  that  he  is  such.  *  Hence, 
if  an  inferior  does  not  discern  the  works  of  his  superior  to  be 
virtuous,  he  is  not  bound  to  believe  that  he  is  a  member  of 
the  church  by  the  law  of  present  righteousness,  or  to  believe 
with  godly  fear  and  conditionally  that  he  is  such  genuinely, 
simpliciter,  namely  by  virtue  of  predestination.  And,  if  he 
certainly  knows  his  sin,  then  he  ought  to  conclude  from  his 
works  that  at  that  time  he  is  not  righteous  but  an  enemy  of 
Jesus  Christ.  .And  so  it  is  clear  that  the  third  conclusion  is 
false.  For  there  is  no  confusion  in  the  church  militant,  by 
reason  of  the  fact  that  without  revelation  we  do  not  know 
certainly  who  are  members  of  Christ's  mystical  body  on  earth. 
Up  to  this  point  the  objection  is:  Seeing  that  grace  makes 
sons  of  the  church,  just  so  sin  makes  members  of  the  devil 
and  also  unbeUevers,  it  is  clear  that  a  man  may  become  a 
member  of  the  church  after  being  an  unbeliever,  just  as  from 
being  a  member  of  the  church  one  may  become  a  member 
of  the  devil.  For  who  doubts  that  Iscariot,  when  he  was  a 
true  apostle,  was  not  also  a  member  of  the  church?^  Even 
so  Paul,  when  he  was  a  blasphemer,  was  separate  from 
holy  mother  church.  What  is  here  said  is  said  because  the 
church  is  conceived  of  in  a  true  sense  or  in  a  nominal  sense — 
in  the  true  sense  she  is,  as  has  been  said,  identical  with  the 
predestinate;  in  the  nominal  sense  the  church  is  called  the 

^  Huss  is  constantly  using  Judas  as  an  example  of  how  a  prescitus,  a  repro- 
bate, may  be  a  pope  or  a  bishop,  having  present  righteousness,  it  may  be,  but 
not  among  the  elect.  Judas  was  legitimately  elected,  as  Christ  says,  John  6  :  70, 
and  yet  he  had  a  devil.  So  a  pope  may  well  be  elected  according  to  the  ritual, 
and  yet  be  of  the  lost.  Replies  to  Palecz  and  Stanislaus,  Mon.,  322,  323,  339, 
340,  etc.  In  his  Com.  on  Peter  the  Lombard,  Huss  says,  p.  188:  "In  truth, 
Judas  Iscarioth  wanted  to  be  a  bishop,  and  it  pleased  God  to  choose  him  to  the 
episcopate.  But  what  good  did  he  get  thereby?  Certainly  he  lost  his  episco- 
pate because  he  conimitted  simony;  and  he  gave  himself  up  body  and  soul  to 
damnation  because  he  would  not  conform  his  will  to  the  will  of  God." 


GOOD  AND  BAD   IN  THE  CHURCH  51 

assembly  of  the  reprobate.  It  is  by  a  sheer  error  that  men 
living  on  the  earth  speak  in  this  way  of  the  true  holy  mother 
church,  and  so  many  according  to  common  fame  are  called 
heads  or  members  of  the  church,  although  according  to  God's 
foreknowledge  they  are  members  of  the  devil,  who  for  a  time 
believe  and  afterwards  fall  away  or  are  now  and  always  were 
unbelievers,  and  of  this  sort,  as  already  said  above  and  to 
follow  Augustine,  were  those  disciples  of  Christ  who  went 
back  and  no  longer  walked  with  him.  Similarly,  it  was  with 
Iscariot  who  was  falsely  reputed  to  be  a  disciple  of  Christ, 
about  whom  Augustine,  in  his  Commentary  on  John  [Nic. 
Fathers,  7  :  253],  speaks  when  he  shows  how  the  sheep 
heard  Christ's  voice.  "But  what,"  he  says,  ''are  we  to  think? 
Those  who  heard — were  they  the  sheep?  Did  not  Judas 
hear  and  he  was  a  wolf?  He  followed  but  was  clothed  in 
sheep's  clothing  and  plotted  against  the  Shepherd."  In 
this  way,  therefore,  many  are  reputed  according  to  present 
righteousness  to  be  of  the  church,  but  they  are  not  really  so 
by  virtue  of  predestination  unto  glory.  And  who  these  are 
Augustine  teaches  in  his  Commentary  on  John,  when  he  says : 
''The  Lord  knows  who  are  his.  He  knows  who  will  hold  out 
till  the  conferring  of  the  crown,  who  will  hold  out  unto  the 
flames.  He  knows  in  his  threshing-floor  the  wheat,  he  knows 
the  chaff,  he  knows  the  good  seed,  he  knows  the  tares.  But 
to  the  rest  it  is  unknown  who  are  doves  and  who  are  ravens." 


CHAPTER  VI 
CHRIST   THE   HEAD    OF   THE    ELECT 

Treatment  having  been  made  of  the  holy  catholic  church, 
which  is  Christ's  mystical  body  and  of  which  Christ  is  the  head, 
a  statement  must  also  be  made  of  the  church  of  the  wicked — 
malignantium — which  is  the  body  of  the  devil,  he  being  its 
head.^  For  St.  Gregory  says,  Moralia,  4  :  9  [Migne,  75  :  647]: 
"As  our  Redeemer  is  one  person  with  the  assembly  of  the 
good  (for  He  is  the  head  of  the  body  and  we  the  body  of  that 
head),  so  is  the  old  enemy  one  person  with  all  the  company 
of  the  reprobate,  for  he  as  their  head  presides  over  them  unto 
iniquity.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  all  the  reprobate  constitute 
one  body.  For  Christ  said  to  the  Jews,  the  high  priests  and 
Pharisees,  who  were  called  the  chiefs — capitales — of  the  church : 
'Ye  are  of  your  father,  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of  your  father 
ye  will  do,'"  John  8  :  44.  This  shows  that  there  must  be  one 
generation — brood — which  was  bad  in  the  case  of  the  common 
people,  worse  in  the  case  of  secular  rulers,  but  worst  of  all  in 
the  case  of  the  prelates,  just  as  the  generation  of  the  righteous 
has  three  opposite  classes,  corresponding  grade  for  grade  to 
these  three  classes.  If,  therefore,  the  generation  of  the  per- 
verse is  one,  it  is  fitting  that  there  should  be  one  evil  man 
[being]  with  parts,  who  are  the  members  of  the  devil.  And  as 
there  cannot  be  a  head  or  a  member  except  as  these  are  related 
to  the  entire  body,  it  is  plain  that  there  is  one  body  of  the  devil. 

'  In  his  Super  IV.  Sent.,  36,  733,  Huss  also  calls  the  kingdom  of  Satan  ecdesia 
malignancium,  or  civilas  diaboli.  "  This  is  the  congregation  of  all  the  damned,  as 
the  holy  church  is  the  congregation  of  all  the  faithful — those  who  are  to  be 
saved.  In  the  present  time  this  church  of  the  wicked  is  dispensing  its  evil 
odor  and  infection  and  the  virus  of  false  doctrine." 

52 


CHRIST  THE  HEAD  OF  THE  ELECT  53 

When,  however,  the  body  of  Christ  is  called  the  mystical 
body  on  account  of  the  mystery  of  the  heavenly  marriage 
between  Christ  and  the  church,  the  body  of  the  devil  is  not 
likewise  mystical  but  dark,  because  to  be  joined  with  the 
devil  as  one  of  his  members  does  not  express  itself  directly 
in  mystery  but  in  the  scourge.  Thus  the  body  of  the  devil 
has  something  natural  about  it,  because,  as  Augustine  says, 
de  natura  Boni,  all  evil  must  root  itself  in  the  good,  so  all  evil 
in  morals  is  founded  in  what  is  good  by  nature.  And  besides 
having  that  which  is  natural,  the  body  of  the  devil  has  the 
essence  of  vice,  just  as  the  mystical  body  of  Christ  has  the 
essence  of  virtue.  Hence  St.  Augustine  denies,  de  dod.  ChrisH, 
III  [Nic.  Fathers,  2  :  569],  that  the  body  and  members  of 
Christ  are  one  in  the  same  sense  as  the  members  of  the  devil 
are  one. 

Now,  if  it  be  asked  what  is  the  form  in  which  the  members 
of  the  devil  are  united  in  that  body,  the  answer  is  that  there  is 
an  outer  form  and  an  inner  deformity.  The  outer  form  is 
God's  eternal  foreknowledge  which  knows  and  ordains  all  the 
foreknown  members  of  that  diabolical  body  to  be  bound  to 
perpetual  punishment.  But  the  inner  deformity  is  the  final 
disobedience  or  pride,  which  the  saints  call  the  guilt  of  final 
impenitence  or  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  so  the 
same  sin  both  continues  on  and  disjoins.  For  it  holds  on  in  the 
members  of  the  devil,  binding  them  together  in  their  wicked- 
ness for  Tartarus  and  separating  them  from  the  companion- 
ship of  the  blessed,  just  as  heat,  first  dissolving  a  mixture, 
gathers  together  the  homogeneous  parts,  making  each  element 
of  the  dissolved  mixture  to  seek  its  own  place.  But  it  sepa- 
rates the  heterogeneous  constituents,  when  it  dissolves  what 
seems  on  the  surface  to  be  harmonious  by  resolving  the  parts 
of  the  mixture,  each  into  its  original,  separate  element.  For 
in  the  day  of  judgment,  by  the  contrary  principles,  the  cold- 
ness of  the  devil's  body  and  the  heat  of  the  love  of  Christ's 
body,  the  bipartite  body  must  be  dissolved  according  to  the 


54  THE  CHURCH 

law  of  the  final  form,  when  the  light  parts  will  hasten  upward 
with  their  head,  who  is  a  consuming  fire,  to  their  appropriate 
mansions  among  the  saints,  but  the  parts  terrestrial,  weighted, 
as  of  lead,  will  go  down  to  hell,  even  as  John  said,  21  :  13: 
*'In  a  moment  they  went  down  into  hell"  [sheol]. 

But  the  objection  is  drawn  from  St.  Thomas  [Summa, 
in,  q.  8  :  3-7,  Migne],  3  :  100  sqq.,  when  he  says:  "Christ  is 
the  head  of  all  men,  both  the  faithful  who  are  united  unto 
himself  in  deed  through  grace,  and  also  the  unbelieving  who 
are  his  members  only  potentially" — in  potentia.  And  later 
on,  he  makes  a  division  according  to  the  predestinate  and  rep- 
robate who,  passing  away  from  this  world,  cease  wholly  to  be 
members  of  Christ.  This  he  thus  explains :  As  for  this  state- 
ment of  St.  Thomas,  it  seems  to  me  he  speaks  ambiguously, 
saying  truly  that  in  virtue  of  his  deity,  Christ  is  the  outward 
head  of  the  whole  human  race  which,  taken  as  an  aggregate, 
may  be  termed  one  natural  body  on  which  Christ  confers 
benefits  as  he  does  on  the  whole  world.  In  virtue  of  his 
humanity  a  secondary  perfection  was  won  by  the  merit  of 
Christ's  passion  for  the  whole  world,  and  so  in  virtue  of  his 
humanity  he  does  good  to  the  whole  human  race — when  he 
punishes  all  the  damned,  whether  they  are  damned  (i)  be- 
cause of  unbelief,  Hke  those  who  did  not  believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  or  (2)  because  of  despair  which  they  ought  to 
have  put  aside,  aspiring  to  heavenly  things,  or  (3)  because  of  a 
rash  and  fooUsh  judgment,  which  they  ought  to  have  put 
aside,  and  finally  accepted  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  love. 

Thus  it  appears  how  Christ  is  head  of  all  men  and  how  he 
is  also  head  of  the  predestinate;  and  how  it  is  not  contra- 
dictory to  speak  of  the  body  of  the  devil  (which  is  the  syna- 
gogue of  Satan)  and  at  the  same  time  to  speak  of  the  church 
of  Christ  on  the  ground  of  creation,  beneficence,  and  preserva- 
tion, but  not  on  the  ground  of  a  union  based  on  love,  on  which 
ground  it  is  called  Christ's  church  which  he  loved,  that  he 
might  present  it  as  his  bride  without  spot  and  to  be  cherished 


CHRIST  THE  HEAD  OF  THE  ELECT  55 

forever.  But  what  the  church  of  Christ  or  the  synagogue  of 
Satan  are  or  will  be — whether  in  the  case  of  men  or — more 
numerously — in  the  case  of  the  angels — we  shall  fully  know 
after  Christ  the  Lord  has  pronounced  the  final  judgment.  For 
he  himself  says:  "Enter  ye  in  at  the  strait  gate,  for  wide  is 
the  gate  and  broad  is  the  way  which  leadeth  unto  perdition 
and  many  there  are  who  go  in  thereat,  for  strait  is  the  gate 
and  narrow  is  the  way  which  leadeth  unto  Hfe  and  few  there 
are  who  find  it."  Matt.  7  :  13.  On  this  passage  Chrysostom 
says,  Homil.  18  [Nic.  Fathers  10  :  163]:  "The  way  of  Christ 
is  said  to  be  strait  and  narrow,  because  Christ  received  to 
himself  only  those  who  divested  themselves  of  all  sins,  laid 
down  all  the  care  of  this  world  and  were  made  refined  and 
spiritual — suUiles  et  spirituales." 

Almighty  Lord,  who  art  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  Hfe, 
Thou  knowest  how  few  in  this  present  time  walk  in  Thee, 
how  few  imitate  Thee  as  their  head,  in  humihty,  poverty, 
chastity,  diligence,  and  patience.  Open  is  the  way  of  Satan; 
many  walk  therein.  Help  Thy  weak  flock,  that  it  may  not 
forsake  Thee,  but  follow  Thee  unto  the  end  in  the  narrow 
way. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    ROMAN   PONTIFF   AND    THE    CARDINALS  NOT 
THE   UNIVERSAL    CHURCH 

It  has  been  said  that  Christ  is  the  sole  Head  of  the  holy 
universal  church  and  all  the  predestinate,  past  and  future, 
are  his  mystical  body  and  every  one  of  them  members  of  that 
body.  It  remains  now  briefly  to  examine  whether  the  Roman 
church  is  that  holy  universal  church,  the  bride  of  Christ. 
This  seems  to  be  the  case  because  the  holy  catholic  apostolic 
church  is  one,  and  this  is  none  other  than  the  Roman  church. 
What  seemed  a  matter  of  question  is  therefore  true.  The 
first  part  of  the  statement  appears  from  Pope  Boniface's 
bull:  "By  the  urgency  of  faith  we  are  compelled  to  believe  and 
hold  that  the  holy  catholic  apostoHc  church  is  one."^  Like- 
wise, the  second  statement  appears  from  the  same  decretal, 
which  says:  "Of  the  one  and  only  church  there  is  one  body, 
one  head,  and  not  two  heads  Hke  a  monster,  namely,  Christ 
and  Christ's  vicar,  Peter,  and  Peter's  successors,  even  as, 
when  the  Lord  said  to  Peter  himself,  'Feed  my  sheep,'  he 
spoke  in  a  general  sense,  not  of  individuals,  of  these  or  those 
sheep.  It  is  plain  that  he  regarded  all  the  sheep  as  committed 
to  him.  Therefore,  if  the  Greeks  and  others  say  that  they 
were  not  committed  to  Peter  and  his  successors,  they  thereby 
confess  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  of  Christ's  sheep;  for 
did  not  the  Lord  say,  in  John:  'They  shall  become  one  fold 
and  one  shepherd'?"  Is  it  not  evident,  therefore,  that  the 
holy  Roman  church  is  that  holy  universal  church,  because 

'The  first  clause  of  Boniface's  bull,  Unam  sanctam,  Friedberg,  2  :  1245; 
Schaff,  Ch,  Hist.,  V,  part  2,  p.  25. 

56 


ROMAN  PONTIFF  AND   CARDINALS  57 

all  are  Christ's  sheep,  and  the  one  fold  is  of  one  shepherd? 
This  is  the  meaning  of  the  aforesaid  decretal  of  Boniface, 
which  closes  with  these  words:  "Further  we  declare,  say  and 
determine  that  to  be  subject  to  the  Roman  pontiff  is  for  every 
human  being  altogether  necessary  for  salvation" — subesse 
Romano  pontifici  omni  humana  creaturce  .  .  .  omnino  esse  de 
necessitate  salutis.  If,  therefore,  every  man  is  of  necessity 
subjected  by  this  declaration  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  the  afore- 
said proposition  will  follow  as  true,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  proposition  that  the  Roman  church  is  the  church,  whose 
head  is  the  pope  and  whose  body  the  cardinals,  and  these  to- 
gether constitute  that  church.  But  that  church  is  not  the 
holy  catholic  and  apostoUc  church.  Therefore,  what  seemed 
a  matter  of  doubt  is  false.  The  first  proposition  is  made  out 
by  the  statements  of  certain  doctors — among  the  statements 
being  that  the  pope  is  the  head  of  the  Roman  church  and  the 
body  is  the  college  of  cardinals.  The  second  is  manifest  from 
the  fact  that  the  pope  with  the  cardinals  is  not  the  totality 
of  all  the  elect. 

For  the  understanding  of  this  subject  the  notable  passage 
of  the  Gospel  must  be  meditated  upon,  namely.  Matt.  16  :  16- 
19:  "And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said,  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God.  And  Jesus  answered  and 
said,  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar- Jonah:  for  flesh  and  blood 
hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven.  And  I  also  say  unto  thee,  that  thou  art  Peter,  and 
upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church;  and  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it.  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven:  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on 
earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven:  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven."  In  this  passage  are 
designated  Christ's  church,  its  faith,  the  foundation,  and  the 
authority.  In  these  words  Christ's  church  is  designated,  "I 
will  build  my  church";  in  these  Peter's  faith,  "Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God";  in  these  the  foundation, 


58  THE  CHURCH 

"on  this  rock  I  will  build";  and  in  these  the  authority,  "I 
will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
These  four  are  to  be  touched  upon  briefly,  namely,  the  church, 
faith,  the  foundation,  the  church's  power. 

As  for  the  first  point,  in  view  of  the  things  set  forth  above 
the  proposition  is  to  be  laid  down  that,  if  we  put  aside  the 
church,  nominally  so  called  and  as  she  is  generally  esteemed  to 
be,  then  the  church  is  said  to  be  threefold.  In  one  sense  it  is 
the  congregation  or  company  of  the  faithful  in  respect  to 
what  is  for  a  time  or  in  respect  to  present  righteousness  alone, 
and  in  this  sense  the  reprobate  are  of  the  church  for  the  time 
in  which  they  are  in  grace.  But  this  church  is  not  Christ's 
mystical  body  nor  the  holy  catholic  church  nor  any  part  of  it. 
In  the  second  sense  the  church  is  taken  to  be  the  admixture 
of  the  predestinate  and  the  reprobate  while  they  are  in  grace 
in  respect  to  present  righteousness.  And  this  church  is  in 
part  but  not  in  whole  identical  with  God's  holy  church.  And 
this  church  is  called  mixed  in  character — grain  and  chaff, 
wheat  and  tares — the  kingdom  of  heaven  like  unto  a  net  cast 
into  the  sea  and  gathering  fish  of  every  kind  and  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  like  unto  ten  virgins,  of  whom  five  were  foolish 
and  five  wise,  as  was  said  above.  This  church,  Tychonius 
falsely  called  the  bipartite  body  of  the  Lord,  as  appears  in  de 
docL  Christi,  3  :  32  [Nic.  Fathers,  2  :  569].  For  the  repro- 
bate are  not  the  body  of  the  Lord  or  any  part  of  it. 

In  the  third  sense  the  church  is  taken  for  the  company 
of  the  predestinate,  whether  they  are  in  grace  in  respect  to 
present  righteousness  or  not.  In  this  sense  the  church  is  an 
article  of  faith,  about  which  the  apostle  was  speaking  when 
he  said,  Eph.  5  :  26:  "Christ  loved  the  church  and  gave  him- 
self for  it,  cleansing  it  by  the  washing  of  water  in  the  word  of 
life,  that  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a  glorious  church  not 
having  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing,  but  that  it  might  be 
holy  and  without  spot." 

This  church  the  Saviour  calls  his  church  in  the  Gospel 


ROMAN  PONTIFF  AND   CARDINALS  59 

quoted,  when  he  said:  ''On  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church." 
And  that  he  means  this  church  is  plain  from  the  words  which 
follow:  "And  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 
For  seeing  that  Christ  is  the  rock  of  that  church  and  also  the 
foundation  on  whom  she  is  builded  in  respect  to  predestina- 
tion, she  cannot  finally  be  overthrown  by  the  gates  of  hell, 
that  is,  by  the  power  and  the  assaults  of  tyrants  who  per- 
secute her  or  the  assaults  of  wicked  spirits.  For  mightier  is 
Christ  the  king  of  heaven,  the  bridegroom  of  the  church, 
than  the  prince  of  this  world.  Therefore,  in  order  to  show  his 
power  and  foreknowledge  and  the  predestination  wherewith 
he  builds,  protects,  foreknows,  and  predestinates  his  church, 
and  to  give  persevering  hope  to  his  church,  he  added:  "And 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  Here  Lyra 
says:  "From  this  it  appears  that  the  church  is  not  composed 
of  men  by  virtue  of  any  power  of  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
dignity,  because  there  are  many  princes  and  high  priests  and 
others  of  lower  degree  who  have  been  found  apostates  from 
the  faith."  This  comment  has  its  proof,  in  part,  in  the  case  of 
Judas  Iscariot,  both  apostle  and  bishop,  who  was  present  when 
Christ  said:  "On  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church  and  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  But  he  himself 
was  not  built  upon  the  rock  in  respect  of  predestination  and 
therefore  the  gates  of  hell  prevailed  against  him. 

From  the  aforesaid  words  of  Christ  it  is  evident  that  the 
church  is  taken  to  mean  all,  in  a  special  sense,  who  after  his 
resurrection  were  to  be  built  upon  him  and  in  him  by  faith 
and  perfecting  grace.  For  Christ  commended  Peter,  who 
bore  [represented]  the  person  of  the  universal  church  and 
confessed  his  faith  in  the  words:  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  Hving  God."  And  Christ  said  to  him,  "Blessed  art 
thou,  Simon  Bar-Jonah."  This  commendation  befits  Peter 
and  the  whole  church,  which  from  the  beginning  was  blessed 
in  the  way,  by  confessing  humbly,  obediently,  heartily,  and 
constantly  that  Christ  is  the  Son  of  the  living  God.     This 


6o  THE  CHURCH 

faith  in  regard  to  that  most  hidden  article,  the  flesh — that  is, 
the  wisdom  of  the  world — does  not  reveal;  nor  does  blood 
reveal  it,  that  is,  pure  philosophical  science — but  alone  God, 
the  Father.  And  because  the  confession  was  so  clear  and 
positive,  the  Rock — Petra — said  to  Peter — the  rock:  "And 
I  say  unto  thee  that  thou  art  Peter,"  that  is,  the  confessor  of 
the  true  Rock — Petra — who  is  Christ,  and  "on  this  Rock," 
which  thou  hast  confessed — that  is,  upon  me — *'I  will  build" 
by  strong  faith  and  perfecting  grace  ''my  church" — that  is, 
the  company  of  the  predestinate  who,  the  probation  being 
over,  are  appointed  to  glory.  Wherefore,  "the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it."  Up  to  this  point  it  has  been  de- 
duced from  the  Saviour's  words  that  there  is  (i)  one  church — 
namely,  from  the  very  word  "church";  (2)  that  it  is  Christ's 
church — from  the  word  "my";  (3)  that  it  is  holy — from  the 
words,  "the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  The 
conclusion,  therefore,  is  that  there  is  one  holy  church  of  Christ, 
which  in  Greek  is  katholike  and  in  Latin  universalis.  She  is 
also  called  apostolic,  apostoUke,  because  she  was  established  by 
the  words  and  deeds  of  the  apostles  and  founded  upon  the 
Rock,  Christ,  as  Jerome  says  in  the  Prologue  to  his  Com- 
mentary on  the  Apocalypse.^ 

Hence  I  lay  it  down  that  it  is  to  be  called  the  holy  Roman 
church,  for  the  Decretum,  Dist.  21  [Friedberg,  i  :  70],  says 
that  "although  there  is  only  one  bridal  couch^  of  the  uni- 
versal catholic  church  of  Christ^  throughout  the  world,  never- 

^  Jerome  referred  the  rock  now  to  Christ,  Com.  on  Amos,  6  :  12,  now  to  Peter, 
now  to  Peter  and  his  confession.  The  notable  passages  in  which  he  makes 
Peter  the  rock  are  his  letter  to  Marcella,  and  especially  his  letter  to  Damasus, 
bishop  of  Rome,  Nic.  Fathers,  6  :  18,  55.  In  commenting  on  Matt.  16  :  16, 
Jerome  combined  the  interpretations  Christ  and  Peter.  He  can,  therefore,  be 
cited  for  both  interpretations. 

-The  word  transl.  couch — thalamus — is  used  in  the  Vulgate,  Deut.  S3  '•  12: 
"He  will  abide  the  whole  day  on  his  couch,"  where  the  proper  transl.  of  the 
Hebrew  is:  "He  covereth  him  all  the  day  long."  Gilbert  of  Holland,  Sermon 
on  the  Cant.,  Migne  184  :  64,  says:  "There  is  a  couch  on  the  breast  of  Jesus, 
yea  and  also  a  treasure,"  in  pectore  Jesu  thalamus,  etc. 

^  I  have  substituted  for  Huss's  text,  Christus,  the  text  of  the  Decretum,  Christi. 


ROMAN  PONTIFF  AND   CARDINALS  6i 

theless  the  holy  Roman  catholic  and  apostolic  church  is  by 
the  decisions  of  no  synods^  set  above  the  other  churches." 
This  it  proves  by  the  passage  already  cited,  Matt.  i6 — 
namely:  ''Thou  art  Peter  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build 
my  church."  And  a  little  later  it  calls  this  church  ''the 
Roman  church,  the  primal  seat  of  the  apostle,  which  has 
neither  spot  nor  wrinkle."  This  church,  however,  cannot 
be  understood  to  mean  the  pope  with  his  cardinals  and  his 
household,  for  they  alike  come  and  go.  Therefore,  the  Gloss 
on  this  text  has  this  to  say:  "The  argument  is,  that  wherever 
the  good  are,  there  is  the  Roman  church."  And  so  the  De- 
crettim,  24  :  i  [Friedberg  i  :  970] :  a  recta  is  to  be  understood. 
Where  the  canon  on  the  Roman  church  speaks  in  this  way: 
"This  is  the  holy  and  apostolic  mother  church  of  all  the 
churches  of  Christ,  which  ^  by  God's  omnipotent  grace  is 
proved  never  to  have  erred  from  the  path  of  apostoUc  tra- 
dition, nor  has  ever  been  corrupted  by  or  succumbed  to 
heretical  novelties."  This,  it  must  here  be  noted,  cannot 
be  understood  of  any  pope  or  the  members  of  his  household, 
on  which  point  the  Gloss  also  says:  "I  ask,  therefore,  of  which 
church  do  you  understand  that  it  cannot  err?"  But  it  is 
certain  that  the  pope  can  err.  See  Decretum,  Anastasius,  19, 
and  Si  papa,  40  [Friedberg,  i  :  64,  146].  Therefore,  neither 
the  pope  himself  nor  his  family  is  that  church  of  which  it  is 
here  said,  she  cannot  err.  Hence  the  Gloss  says:  "The 
company  of  the  faithful  itself  is  called  this  church."  So  also 
is  to  be  understood  St.  Jerome's  statement,  Dist.  25:  i,  Hcbc 
est  fides  [Friedberg  i  :  970]:  "The  Roman  church  is  holy, 
which  always  has  remained  thoroughly  unspotted,  will  in  the 
future  by  the  Lord's  providence  and  the  blessed  Apostle 
Peter's  care  remain  without  any  dent  from  heretics  and  abide 

^Instead  of  "no  synods"  Huss's  text  has  "many — mullis — synods."  The 
text  of  the  Dccretic?n  is  niillis.  This  was  the  famous  decree  of  Gelasius,  pope 
about  495  or  496,  and  I  have  substituted  the  right  reading  above;  for  the  mis- 
take of  the  editor  makes  Huss  prove  the  very  opposite  of  what  he  was  intending. 

*  Huss  here  has  qui,  the  Decrdum  qucB. 


62  THE   CHURCH 

unmoved  and  unmovable  for  all  time."  Here  no  pope  with 
his  college  of  cardinals  can  be  understood.  For  often  these 
are  as  soiled  with  wicked,  deceitful  depravity  and  sin,  as  at 
the  time  of  pope  Joanna,  the  Englishwoman,  who  was  called 
Agnes.  How,  therefore,  did  that  Roman  church — that  Agnes, 
pope  Joanna  with  college — remain  always  unspotted,  seeing 
she  bore  ?  And  the  same  is  true  of  other  popes  who  were  here- 
tics and  deposed  on  account  of  their  manifold  enormities. 

Since,  therefore,  according  to  the  Decretals,  the  Roman 
church  has  the  primacy  and  the  dignity,  so  far  as  God  is 
concerned,  over  all  other  churches,  it  is  evident  that  she  is 
the  whole  militant  church,  which  God  loves  more  than  any 
of  its  parts.  And  so  it  is  evidently  of  faith  that  not  that 
college  [of  the  cardinals]  but  the  whole  mother  dispersed 
among  all  peoples  and  tongues  is  that  holy  Roman  church 
of  which  the  laws  [the  canon  law]  accord  in  speaking  with 
the  holy  doctors.  Hence,  in  order  to  impress  upon  us  this 
judgment  by  St.  Augustine  and  St.  Ambrose,  the  hymn  is 
ordained  for  the  church,  "The  holy  church  throughout  the 
world  doth  acknowledge  thee."  And  in  the  canon  of  the 
mass,  first  and  chiefly,  we  offer  prayer  for  the  holy  catholic 
church,  that  God  would  condescend  to  give  her  peace,  to 
keep  her,  and  to  grant  her  unity  in  all  the  world.  Hence 
prayer  is  undoubtedly  offered  for  the  principal — princi- 
palissima — militant  church,  which,  I  lay  down,  is  the  Roman 
church.  And  truly  among  its  parts,  when  we  compare  in 
the  matter  of  greatness,  the  pope  and  his  college  are  in 
dignity  its  chief  part,  so  long  as  they  follow  Christ  closely 
and,  putting  away  the  pomp  and  ambition  of  the  primacy, 
serve  their  mother  diligently  and  humbly.  For  in  doing  the 
opposite  they  are  turned  into  the  desolation  of  abomination 
— into  a  college  at  direct  variance  with  the  humble  college 
of  the  apostles  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  Roman  church  was  properly 
called  a  company  of  Christ's  faithful,  living  under  the  obe- 


ROMAN  PONTIFF  AND   CARDINALS  63 

dience  of  the  Roman  bishop,  just  as  the  Antiochian  church 
was  called  the  company  of  Christ's  faithful,  under  the  bishop 
of  Antioch.  The  same  also  was  true  of  the  faithful  in  Alex- 
andria and  Constantinople.  And  in  this  way  Peter,  Christ's 
apostle  and  Roman  bishop,  speaks  of  the  church  when,  ad- 
dressing the  faithful  in  Christ  in  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappa- 
docia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia,  he  says:  "The  church  which  is 
gathered  together^  in  Babylon  saluteth  you,"  I  Peter  5  :  13. 
Is  not  the  church  here  taken  to  mean  the  faithful  of  Christ 
who  were  at  Rome  with  St.  Peter?  After  the  same  manner 
also,  the  apostle  designated  particular  churches  when  he 
wrote  from  Corinth  to  the  Romans,  "all  the  churches  of  Christ 
salute  you,"  and  a  little  further  on:  "I,  Tertius,  salute  you, 
who  wrote  the  epistle  in  the  Lord.  Gaius  my  host  and  the 
whole  church  saluteth  you."  Romans  16  :  16,  23.  Here  the 
whole  church  is  taken  for  all  Christ's  faithful,  who  with  Paul 
were  waging  warfare  in  Corinth.  Likewise  we  have  the 
words:  "To  the  church  of  God  which  is  in  Corinth,  sancti- 
fied in  Christ  Jesus,"  I  Cor.  1:2,  and  "Paul  and  Sylvanus 
and  Timotheus  to  the  church  of  the  Thessalonians,"  I  Thess. 
1:2.  We  have  the  same  often  in  other  places,  so  that  those 
are  properly  called  particular  churches  which  separately  are 
parts  of  the  universal  church,  which  is  the  church  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

But  the  Christian  church  had  its  beginning  in  Judea  and 
was  first  called  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  as  it  is  said:  "In 
that  day  there  arose  a  great  persecution  in  the  church  which 
was  in  Jerusalem,  and  they  were  all  scattered  throughout  the 
regions  of  Judea  and  Samaria,  except  the  apostles,"  Acts 
8:1.  The  second  church  was  the  Antiochian,  in  which  Peter, 
the  apostle,  resided,  and  there,  for  the  first  time,  the  name 
Christian  was  employed.  Hence,  the  faithful  were  first 
called  disciples  and  brethren,  and  later  Christians,  for  we 
read:  "The  apostles  and  brethren  which  were  in  Judea," 
1  Collecta.    The  Vulgate  has  coelecta  with  the  Greek. 


64  THE   CHURCH 

and  at  the  close  of  the  chapter  it  is  stated  how  Barnabas  led 
Paul  to  Antioch  and  they  were  together  for  a  whole  year  in 
the  church  and  taught  great  multitudes,  so  that  "the  disciples 
were  called  Christians  first  in  Antioch,"  Acts  ii  :  i,  26. 

In  the  second  sense,  the  Roman  church  is  taken  to  mean 
any  pope  together  with  any  cardinals,  wherever  they  may 
happen  to  reside,  whether  their  lives  are  good  or  evil.  And 
in  the  third  sense,  it  is  taken  for  the  pope.  These  two  last 
senses  are  wrested  by  scholars.  For  there  is  no  good  reason 
for  calKng  the  Roman  church  our  mother  either  (i)  on  ac- 
count of  its  pride  or  (2)  on  account  of  the  emperor's  clement 
goodness  in  endowing  the  church  or  on  account  of  the  pope's 
haughtiness  and  self-assertion  because  of  imperial  rule  drawn 
from  the  pope's  primacy  or  dominion,  (3)  or,  again,  is  this 
a  good  reason  that  men  should  believe  that  it  is  incumbent 
upon  every  Christian  to  have  recourse  to  the  pope  and  that 
it  is  of  necessity  for  salvation  to  recognize  him  as  the  head 
and  as  the  most  holy  father,  but  for  other  reasons  than  this. 
For  since  the  term  Roman  church  was  estabhshed  aside  from 
any  foundation  in  sacred  Scripture,  it  is  enough  to  give  a 
probable  reason.  For  the  holy  church  of  Christ  flourished 
first  in  Jerusalem  during  the  days  of  the  apostles,  who  com- 
panied  with  Christ,  and  afterwards  in  Antioch  at  the  time  of 
Peter's  incumbence  as  bishop — cathedrationis — and  afterwards 
in  Rome  at  the  time  of  the  preaching  and  martyrdom  of 
Peter  and  Paul.  And  so  is  to  be  understood  the  Saviour's 
saying,  Matt.  12  :  28,  "Finally  is  the  kingdom  of  God  come 
unto  you,"  and  also  Luke  17  :  21,  37,  "The  kingdom  of  God 
is  within  you  ...  for  where  the  body  is,  thither  will  the  eagles 
also  be  gathered  together."  For,  although  the  Christian 
church  began  in  Judea  and  Christ  suffered  martyrdom  in 
Jerusalem,  nevertheless  with  reason  Christ's  church  is  called 
the  Roman  church  in  view  of  a  certain  pre-eminence  and  for 
three  causes:  (i)  Christ  knew  that  the  peoples  under  the 
Roman  empire  would  be  brought  in  in  the  place  of  the  unbe- 


ROMAN  PONTIFF  AND   CARDINALS  65 

lieving  Jews,  as  the  apostle  says,  Romans  11  :  2,  12.  (2)  A 
larger  multitude  of  martyrs  triumphed  there  than  in  any  other 
city,  for  so,  where  a  man  is  born  from  the  womb  and  triumphs 
gloriously,  from  that  place  he  takes  his  name.  Inasmuch, 
therefore,  as  holy  church,  so  far  as  many  of  its  parts  go,  was 
born  in  Rome,  having  been  gathered  out  of  the  womb  of  the 
synagogue,  and  there  triumphed,  growing  among  the  nations, 
so  it  was  thought  proper  that  she  should  take  her  name  from 
the  metropolitan  city  which  is  Rome.  Hence  Dist.  22  [Fried- 
berg,  I  :  74]  runs:  "She  is  called  most  holy,  because  Peter 
and  Paul  on  the  same  day  and  at  one  and  the  same  time  con- 
secrated the  whole  Roman  church  and  exalted  her  above  all 
other  cities  in  the  whole  world  by  their  presence  and  by  their 
glorious  triumph."  (3)  Not  the  locality  or  the  antiquity, 
but  the  formulated  faith  establishes  the  church  of  Christ,  for, 
both  as  regards  personalities  and  time,  Christ's  church  had 
existed  before  in  its  earlier  seats.  And  in  this  sense  it  is  said : 
''The  Lord  did  not  choose  people  on  account  of  the  place, 
but  the  place  on  account  of  the  people,"  II  Mace.  5  :  19.  For 
this  cause,  I  believe  it  is  permitted  to  name  Christ's  church 
from  any  locality  which  the  righteous  faithful  inhabit,  just 
as  Christ  was  called  the  Nazarene  on  account  of  his  concep- 
tion which  occurred  in  Nazareth,  and  as  he  may  be  called  a 
Bethlehemite  from  the  place  of  his  nativity,  and  a  Caper- 
naumite  from  Capernaum  where  he  worked  miracles,  and  a 
Jerusalemite  from  his  most  glorious  passion  in  Jerusalem. 

In  view  of  these  things  it  is  plain  what  ought  to  be  said 
with  regard  to  the  doubtful  statement  made  at  the  beginning 
of  this  chapter.  For  it  should  be  granted  that  the  Roman 
church  is  the  holy  mother,  the  catholic  church,  the  bride  of 
Christ.  To  the  argument  in  favor  of  the  opposite,  by  which 
it  is  argued  that  the  Roman  church  is  the  church  of  which 
the  pope  is  the  head  and  the  cardinals  the  body — this  is  said 
by  way  of  concession  and  by  defining  the  church  in  the  second 
way,  that  is,  as  the  pope — whoever  he  may  be — in  conjunction 


66  THE   CHURCH 

with  the  cardinals — whoever  they  may  be  and  wheresoever 
they  may  live.  But  it  is  denied  that  this  church  is  the  holy, 
catholic  and  apostolic  church.  And  so  both  parts  of  the 
argument  are  granted,  but  the  conclusion  is  denied.  But  if 
this  be  said,  namely,  "I  lay  down  that  the  pope  is  holy  to- 
gether with  all  the  twelve  cardinals  living  with  him,"  this 
being  laid  down  and  admitted  as  highly  possible,  it  follows 
that  the  pope  himself  in  conjunction  with  the  cardinals  is 
the  holy,  catholic  and  apostolic  church.  This  conclusion  is 
denied,  but  it  follows  well  that  a  holy  pope  in  conjunction 
with  holy  cardinals  are  a  holy  church  which  is  a  part  of  the 
holy,  cathoHc  and  apostolic  church.  Therefore  Christ's  faith- 
ful must  hold  firmly  as  a  matter  of  faith  to  the  first  conclusion 
and  not  to  the  second;  for  the  first  is  confirmed  by  Christ's 
words:  "The  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  But 
the  second  is  a  matter  of  doubt  to  me  and  to  every  other  pil- 
grim, unless  a  divine  revelation  makes  it  plain.  Hence  neither 
is  the  pope  the  head  nor  are  the  cardinals  the  whole  body  of 
the  holy,  universal,  catholic  church.  For  Christ  alone  is  the 
head  of  that  church,  and  his  predestinate  are  the  body  and 
each  one  is  a  member,  because  his  bride  is  one  person  with 
Jesus  Christ.  "^ 

^  It  was  a  popular  definition  which  regarded  the  pope  in  conjunction  with 
the  body  of  the  cardinals  as  the  church.  So  Wyclif,  "the  public — communilas 
— holds  the  church  to  be  the  pope  and  the  cardinals,  which  it  is  necessary  for 
all  to  believe."  De  Eccles.,  p.  92,  and  often.  In  his  Replies  to  Palecz  and 
Stanislaus,  Huss  represents  these  two  magisters  as  defining  the  church  in  the 
same  way,  the  "pope  is  the  head  and  the  cardinals  the  body  of  the  church." 
Mon.,  I  :  pp.  2,Zd>,  335- 


(C 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   FAITH   WHICH  IS   THE   FOUNDATION   OF   THE 

CHURCH 

So  far  as  the  second  thing  is  concerned  [involved  in  Matt. 
i6  :  16-18],  that  is,  faith,  which  is  touched  upon  in  the  words, 
Thou  art  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  hving  God" — it  is  to  be 
noted  that  faith  is  now  taken  for  the  act  of  beheving  by  which 
we  beheve,  now  for  the  inward  state  or  disposition — habitus^ — 
of  beheving  through  which  we  beheve,  and  now  for  the  truth 
which  we  beheve,  as  Augustine  lays  down,  de  Trinitate,  13 
[Nic.  Fathers,  3  :  166  sqq.]. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  there  is  one  faith 
which  is  the  exphcit  behef  of  a  faithful  man  and  that  there  is 
another  faith  which  is  impHcit  faith  as  the  catholic,  who  has 
the  disposition — habitus — of  faith  infused  or  exphcitly  ac- 
quired, believes  in  the  cathohc  church  in  common  with  others 
and  by  reason  of  that  common  faith  believes  impUcitly  what- 
ever single  thing  is  included  under  holy  mother  church.^  Like- 
wise in  believing  whatsoever  Christ  wished  to  be  believed 

*  In  his  Super  IV.  Sent.,  452,  Huss  defines  the  meaning  of  the  word  when  he 
says  "fides  est  habitus  vel  virtus — provided  faith  is  formed  in  love." 

2  The  distinction  between  implicit  and  explicit  faith,  which  starts  with  Augus- 
tine, is  the  distinction  between  acceptance  of  doctrines  on  the  ground  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  church  and  a  real  assent  to  them  as  doctrines.  So  Thomas  Aquinas, 
who  says,  in  essence,  that  implicit  faith  is  acceptance  of  things  to  be  believed  as 
things  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  and  explicit  faith  is  their  acceptance  with 
the  imderstanding  and  heart.  Sunima,  2  :  2,  q.  2,  5.  Innocent  IV,  in  his 
Com.  on  the  Decretals,  said  that  it  is  enough  for  laymen  to  believe  in  God  as 
the  God  of  justice  and  in  all  other  matters,  dogmas,  and  morals — implicite — that 
is,  to  think  and  say,  I  believe  what  the  church  believes.  Innocent  went  on  to 
say  that  clerics  were  under  obligation  to  follow  the  commands  of  a  pope  that 
were  unrighteous.     Dollinger,  Akad.  Vorl.,  2  :  49. 

67 


68  THE  CHURCH 

about  himself  and  refusing  to  believe  what  he  did  not  wish 
to  be  believed  about  himself,  he  beheves  every  article,  af- 
firmative or  negative,  which  is  to  be  believed  about  Christ. 
This  faith  Peter  had  impUcitly  when  he  expressly  confessed 
Christ  to  be  true  God  and  true  man,  saying:  "Thou  art  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God."  And  yet  the  same  Peter  explicitly 
set  himself  against  Christ  and  his  Gospel  when,  after  Christ 
had  said,  ''All  ye  shall  be  offended  in  me  this  night"  [Matt. 
26  :  31],  he  denied  and  said:  ''Though  all  be  ofif ended  in  thee, 
yet  will  I  never  be  ojff ended."  Thus  also  many  of  the  faith- 
ful in  common  [that  is,  as  a  body]  believe  implicitly  all  the 
truth  of  Scripture,  and  when  a  truth  unknown  to  them  is 
proposed,  they  search  to  see  if  it  is  laid  down  in  holy  Scripture, 
and  if  this  is  shown  to  be  the  case  they  at  once  acknowledge 
the  sense  which  the  Holy  Spirit  insists  on.  Therefore,  whoever 
has  in  common  with  others  faith  formed  in  love,  this  suffices 
for  salvation  when  accompanied  with  the  grace  of  persever- 
ance. For  God,  who  gave  the  first  faith,  will  give  to  his  soldier 
clearer  faith,  unless  he  puts  some  hindrance  in  the  way.  For 
God  does  not  demand  of  all  his  children  that  they  should  con- 
tinuously during  their  sojourn  here  be  in  the  particular  act 
of  thought  about  any  particular  point  of  faith,  but  it  is  enough 
that,  putting  aside  inertia  and  callousness,  they  have  faith 
formed  as  a  habit. 

Faith,  therefore,  we  must  understand,  is  twofold:  the  one 
unformed,  which  is  exercised  by  the  demons  who  believe  and 
tremble;  the  other  faith  formed  in  love.  The  latter,  accom- 
panied with  perseverance,  saves,  but  not  the  former.  Hence 
with  reference  to  the  faith  formed  in  love  the  words  were 
spoken:  "Whosoever  believeth  in  the  Son  of  God,  hath 
eternal  life,"  John  3  :  15.  And  the  Saviour  said  to  Peter, 
who  had  that  faith  and  professed  it:  "Blessed  art  thou,  Simon 
Bar- Jonah."    This  faith  is  the  foundation^  of  the  other  virtues 

1  It  would  seem  that  Huss  gets  his  expression  fundamentum,  foundation, 
from  the  word  substantia,  used  in  the  Vulgate,  Heb.  11  :  i  (hupostasis) ,  sub- 


FAITH  69 

which  the  church  of  Christ  practises.  Likewise  it  is  to  be 
noted  that,  inasmuch  as  faith  is  not  of  things  which  appear 
to  the  senses  but  of  hidden  things  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  beheve  hidden  things,  therefore  two  elements  are 
necessary  to  faith  in  order  that  we  may  believe  anything 
truly:  (i)  the  truth  which  illumines  the  mind,  (2)  the  author- 
ity [evidence]  which  confirms  the  mind.  Here  belongs  one 
property  of  faith,  that  it  is  concerned  alone  with  the  truth — all 
falsehood  being  excluded — the  truth  which  the  faithful  ought 
to  defend  even  unto  death.  The  second  property  of  faith  is, 
that  without  proof  and  special  knowledge  it  is  obscure  to  the 
faithful,  for  what  we  see  with  the  eye  we  cannot  be  said  to 
believe.  And  the  saints  in  heaven  who  see  the  articles  clearly, 
which  we  know  obscurely,  are  not  said  to  believe  them  but 
to  see.  In  the  place  of  faith  they  have  clear  vision  and  in  the 
place  of  hope  unending  fruition.  The  third  property  of  faith 
is,  that  it  is  the  foundation  [assurance]  of  the  things  which 
are  to  be  beHeved  for  the  pilgrim  who  is  to  come  to  the  peaceful 
dwelling.  Therefore,  the  apostle  says  that  faith  is  "the  sub- 
stance," that  is,  the  foundation,  ''of  things  hoped  for":  "the 
evidence  of  things  which  do  not  appear,"  that  is,  to  the  senses, 
Heb.  II  :  I.  For  now  we  hope  for  our  blessedness  and  beheve, 
but  do  not  see  with  the  eyes  of  the  flesh.  And,  because  it  is 
not  possible  without  faith  to  please  God,  therefore  every  one 
who  is  to  be  saved  ought  first  of  all  to  be  faithful — fidelis — 
[have  faith].  A  faithful  person,  however,  is  he  who  has  faith 
infused  by  God  and  has  no  fear  of  ill  to  himself  mixed  with 
his  faith.  But  all  open  offenders  according  to  the  law  of 
present  unrighteousness  are  unfaithful — infideles — [without 
faith],  for  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  sin  mortal  sin  except 

stantia  rerum,  that  which  underlies,  and  trsl.  "assurance"  in  the  Rev.  Vers. 
The  same  word  substantia  is  used  in  the  Vulgate,  II  Cor.  9  :  4,  11  :  17;  Heb. 
3  :  14.  Huss  may  also  have  been  influenced  by  the  Vulgate  fundamenttim, 
Heb.  6:1,  "not  laying  the  foundation  of  repentance  and  good  works  and  of 
faith  toward  God."  Huss  quotes  Heb.  11  :  i  in  his  Com.  on  Peter  the  Lombard, 
P-  453- 


70  THE  CHURCH 

in  so  far  as  he  lacks  faith.  For,  if  he  were  mindful  of  the 
penalty  to  be  inflicted  on  those  sinning  in  that  way  and 
fully  believed  it  and  had  the  faith  which  comes  from  divine 
knowledge — wherewith  God  knows  all  things  clearly  and  is 
present  with  such  sinners — then,  without  doubt,  he  would  not 
sin  mortal  sin. 

A  person  may  lack  faith  in  three  ways:  (i)  By  weak- 
ness, and  in  this  way  he  is  lacking  who  vacillates  in  believing 
and  does  not  persist  unto  death  in  the  defense  of  faith.  (2) 
He  is  lacking  in  faith  who  firmly  believes  the  many  things 
which  are  to  be  believed  and  yet  is  lacking  in  many  things  to 
be  believed,  which  unbelieved  things  are  as  holes,  and  thus  he 
has  a  shield  of  faith  which  is  full  of  holes.  (3)  He  is  lacking 
in  faith  who  lacks  in  the  use  of  this  shield;  and  this  happens 
in  this  way :  that,  though  he  has  the  firm  habit  of  things  to  be 
beUeved,  he  nevertheless  lacks  in  acts  of  meritorious  living 
because  of  an  undisciplined  life.  These  things  are  referred 
to  in  Titus  i  :  16:  "They  confess  that  they  know  God,  but 
in  deeds  deny  him."  Every  one,  therefore,  who  is  lacking  in 
faith  in  any  of  these  three  ways  is  wanting  in  the  abiding 
strength  of  faith. 

And  we  must  remember  that  faith  differs  from  hope:  (i) 
In  this,  that  hope  has  reference  to  the  future  prize  to  be  ob- 
tained, but  faith  concerns  the  past,  namely  such  things  as  that 
God  created  the  world,  that  Christ  was  incarnate,  etc.  And  it 
concerns  also  the  present,  as  that  God  is,  that  the  saints  are 
in  heaven,  and  that  Christ  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father. 
Faith  also  concerns  the  future,  as  that  Christ  will  come  again 
in  judgment;  that  all  who  have  not  arisen  at  that  time  will 
arise  in  the  day  of  judgment;  and  that  God  will  finally  re- 
ward in  bliss  all  the  saints  who  finish  this  present  fife  in  grace. 
(2)  Hope  does  not  reach  the  knowledge  of  faith  in  that  which 
it  hopes  for,  but  it  rests  in  a  certain  middle  act  between  doubt 
and  belief,  so  that  there  are  many  things  which  are  to  be  set 
before  the  faithful  to  accept  which,  when  the  distinction  is 


FAITH  71 

removed,  they  should  neither  doubt,  nor  grant,  nor  deny  but 
only  hope  for.  For  example,  if  it  were  proposed  to  me,  "Thou 
shalt  be  saved,"  I  ought  not  to  grant  it,  for  I  do  not  know 
whether  it  is  true,  nor  should  I  deny  it,  for  I  do  not  know 
whether  it  is  false,  nor  should  I  doubt  it — but  I  should  hope 
for  it.  (3)  Faith  also  differs  from  hope  in  this,  that  hope  is 
only  of  good  which  is  possible  to  him  who  hopeth,  but  faith 
is  about  the  evil  as  well  as  about  the  good,  for  we  believe  the 
forgiveness  of  sin,  which  is  most  certainly  a  good  thing  for 
all  who  are  to  be  saved;  and  we  believe  also  that  the  sin  of 
blasphemy  will  not  be  forgiven  either  in  this  world  or  in  that 
which  is  to  come. 

And  for  the  reason  that  believing  is  an  act  of  faith,  that 
is,  to  put  trust  in— fidere — therefore  know  that  to  believe  that 
which  is  necessary  for  a  man  to  secure  blessedness  is  to  adhere 
firmly  and  without  wavering  to  the  truth  spoken  as  by  God. 
For  this  truth,  because  of  its  certitude,  a  man  ought  to  expose 
his  life  to  the  danger  of  death.  And,  in  this  way,  every 
Christian  is  expected  to  believe  explicitly  and  implicitly  all 
the  truth  which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  put  in  Scripture,  and  in 
this  way  a  man  is  not  bound  to  believe  the  sayings  of  the 
saints  which  are  apart  from  Scripture,  nor  should  he  believe 
papal  bulls,  except  in  so  far  as  they  speak  out  of  Scripture, 
or  in  so  far  as  what  they  say  is  founded  in  Scripture  simply. 
But  a  man  may  believe  bulls  as  probable,  for  both  the  pope 
and  his  curia  make  mistakes  from  ignorance  of  the  truth. 
And,  with  reference  to  this  ignorance,  it  can  be  substantiated 
that  the  pope  makes  mistakes  and  may  be  deceived.  Lucre 
deceives  the  pope,  and  he  is  deceived  through  ignorance.  How 
far,  however,  faith  ought  to  be  placed  in  the  letters  of  princes, 
the  instruments  of  notaries,  and  the  descriptions  of  men,  ex- 
perience, which  is  the  teacher  of  things,  teaches.  For  she 
teaches  that  these  three  often  make  mistakes.  Of  one  kind 
is  the  faith  which  is  placed  in  God.  He  cannot  deceive  or 
be  deceived;  of  another  is  the  faith  placed  in  the  pope,  who 


72  THE  CHURCH 

may  deceive  and  be  deceived.  Of  one  kind  is  the  faith  placed 
in  holy  Scripture;  and  another,  faith  in  a  bull  thought  out 
in  a  human  way.  For  to  holy  Scripture  exception  may  not 
be  taken,  nor  may  it  be  gainsaid;  but  it  is  proper  at  times 
to  take  exception  to  bulls  and  gainsay  them  when  they 
either  commend  the  unworthy  or  put  them  in  authority,  or 
savor  of  avarice,  or  honor  the  unrighteous  or  oppress  the  in- 
nocent, or  implicitly  contradict  the  commands  or  counsels  of 
God. 

It  is,  therefore,  plain  which  faith  is  the  foundation  of  the 
church — the  faith  with  which  the  church  is  built  upon  the 
Rock,  Christ  Jesus,  for  it  is  that  by  which  the  church  confesses 
that  "Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  For  Peter 
spoke  for  all  the  faithful,  when  he  said:  "Thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God."  "This  is  the  victory,"  says  John, 
"which  overcometh  the  world — even  our  faith.  Who  is  he 
that  overcometh  the  world  but  he  that  believeth  that  Jesus 
is  the  Son  of  God?"  I  John  5  :  4. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  CHURCH  FOUNDED  ON  CHRIST,  THE  ROCK 

The  third  foundation,  included  in  the  proposition  (Matt. 
1 6  :  1 8)  is  touched  upon  in  the  words:  ''On  this  rock  I  will 
build  my  church."  And  in  view  of  the  fact  that  in  their  ut- 
terances the  popes  most  of  all  use  this  saying  of  Christ,  wish- 
ing to  draw  from  it  that  they  themselves  are  the  rock  or  the 
foundation  upon  which  the  church  stands,  namely  upon  Peter, 
to  whom  it  was  said,  "Thou  art  Peter," — in  view  of  this  fact, 
in  order  to  understand  the  Lord's  word  it  must  be  noted  that 
the  foundation  of  the  church  by  whom  it  is  founded  is  touched 
upon  in  the  words:  ''I  will  build,"  and  the  foundation  in  which 
it  is  laid  is  referred  to  in  the  words,  "on  this  Rock,"  and  the 
foundation  wherewith  the  church  is  founded  is  referred  to  in 
the  words,  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God." 
Christ  is  therefore  the  foundation  by  whom  primarily  and 
in  whom  primarily  the  holy  catholic  church  is  founded,  and 
faith  is  the  foundation  with  which  it  is  founded — that  faith 
which  works  through  love,  which  Peter  set  forth  when  he 
said:  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  The 
foundation,  therefore,  of  the  church  is  Christ,  and  he  said: 
"Apart  from  me  ye  can  do  nothing,"  John  15  :  5;  that  is, 
apart  from  me  as  the  prime  and  principal  foundation.  But 
Christ  grounds  and  builds  his  church  on  himself,  the  Rock, 
when  he  so  influences  her  that  she  hears  and  does  his  words, 
for  then  the  gates  of  hell  do  not  prevail  against  her.  Hence 
Christ  says:  "Every  one  that  cometh  unto  me  and  heareth  my 
words  and  doeth  them,  I  will  show  you  to  whom  he  is  like: 
he  is  like  a  man  building  a  house,  who  built  a  house  deep  and 

73 


74  THE   CHURCH 

laid  the  foundation  on  a  rock :  and  when  the  flood  arose,  the 
stream  brake  against  that  house,  and  could  not  shake  it:  for 
it  was  founded  on  the  rock,"  Luke  6  :  47.  And  what  this  foun- 
dation is,  the  apostle  Paul  shows  in  I  Cor.  3  :  11:  "Other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  which  is  laid,  which  is 
Christ  Jesus";  and  I  Cor.  10  :  4:  ''But  the  rock  was  Christ." 
Therefore,  it  is  in  this  foundation  and  on  this  rock  and  from 
this  rock  up  that  the  holy  church  is  built,  for  he  says:  "Upon 
this  Rock  I  will  build  my  church." 

And  on  this  foundation  the  apostles  built  the  church  of 
Christ.  For  not  to  themselves  did  they  call  the  people,  but 
to  Christ,  who  is  the  first,  the  essential  and  most  effectual 
foundation.  For  this  reason  the  apostle  said :  "  Other  founda- 
tion can  no  man  lay."  Therefore  this  apostle,  seeing  how 
the  Corinthians  might  err  concerning  the  foundation,  con- 
demned them,  saying:  "Each  one  of  you  saith  I  am  indeed 
of  Paul,  and  I  of  Apollos,  and  I  of  Cephas,  and  I  of  Christ. 
Is  therefore  Christ  divided,  or  was  Paul  crucified  for  you,  or 
were  ye  baptized  in  the  name  of  Paul?"  I  Cor.  i  :  12,  13. 
It  is  as  if  he  said.  No  !  Therefore,  neither  Peter  nor  Paul  nor 
any  other  besides  Christ  is  the  chief  foundation  or  head  of 
the  church,  so  that  later  the  holy  apostle  said:  "What  then 
is  Apollos  and  what  is  Paul  ?  His  ministers  whom  ye  believed 
and  each  one  as  the  Lord  gave  to  him"  to  minister  to  the 
church,  I  Cor.  3:5.  He  said:  "I  planted,"  that  is  by  preach- 
ing; "Apollos  watered,"  that  is  by  baptizing;  "but  God  gave 
the  increase,"  that  is  through  the  founding  by  faith,  hope,  and 
love.  Therefore,  "neither  he  that  planteth,"  as  Paul,  "is 
anything,  nor  he  that  watereth,"  like  Apollos,  "is  anything," 
that  is  anything  upon  which  the  church  may  be  founded,  but 
only  God  who  giveth  the  increase;  He  is  the  church's  founda- 
tion. And  the  words  follow:  "Let  every  one  take  heed  how 
he  buildeth  thereon,  for  other  foundation  can  no  man  lay 
than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Christ  Jesus." 

Now,  this  foundation  is  the  rock  of  righteousness  of  which 


THE  CHURCH  FOUNDED  ON  CHRIST         75 

Christ  spoke  in  the  Gospel  to  St.  Peter:  "Thou  art  Peter, 
and  upon  this  Rock  I  will  build  my  church."  On  these  words 
St.  Augustine  says,  in  his  Sermons  on  the  Words  of  the  Lord,  13 
{Nic.  Fathers,  6  :  340]:  ''Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  thus  spake 
to  Peter,  Thou  art  Peter  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my 
church — on  this  Rock,  which  thou  hast  confessed,  on  this  Rock 
which  thou  hast  recognized,  when  thou  saidst,  'Thou  art 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God ' — '  I  will  build  my  church ' : 
I  will  build  thee  upon  myself,  not  myself  upon  thee.  For 
wishing  that  men  should  be  built  upon  men,  they  were  saying, 
'I  am  of  Paul,  I  of  Apollos,  and  I  of  Cephas,'  that  is,  Peter. 
And  others  who  did  not  wish  to  be  built  upon  Peter — Petrum — 
but  upon  the  Rock — Petram — said,  'I  am  of  Christ.' "  Again, 
in  his  last  Homily  on  John  [Nic.  Fathers,  7  :  450],  Augustine 
says:  "Peter  the  apostle,  because  of  the  primacy  of  his  apos- 
tleship,  had  a  symboHc  and  representative  personality,  for 
what  belonged  to  him  as  an  individual  was  that  by  nature 
he  was  one  man,  by  grace  one  Christian,  and  by  a  more 
abundant  grace  he  was  one  and  the  same  chief  apostle.  But 
when  it  was  said  to  him:  *I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on 
earth  shall  be  boimd  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven,'  he  represented  the 
universal  church  which  in  this  world  is  shaken  by  divers 
temptations,  even  as  by  torrents  of  rain,  by  rivers,  and  tem- 
pests, and  yet  doth  not  fall,  because  it  is  founded  upon  the 
Rock,  the  word  from  which  Peter  got  his  name.  For  Rock 
— Petra — does  not  come  from  Peter — Petrus — but  Peter  from 
Rock,  just  as  the  word  Christ  is  not  derived  from  Christian, 
but  Christian  from  Christ. 

"Hence  the  Lord  said:  'On  this  Rock  I  will  build  my 
church,'  because  Peter  had  said  before,  'Thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God.'  Upon  this  Rock  which  thou  hast 
confessed,  he  said,  'I  will  build  my  church.'  For  Christ  was 
the  Rock.    Therefore,  the  church,  which  is  founded  on  Christ, 


76  THE  CHURCH 

received  from  him  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in 
the  person  of  Peter,  that  is,  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing 
sins.  For  what  the  church  is  essentially  in  Christ,  that  Peter 
is  symbolically  in  the  Rock — Petra — by  which  symbolism 
Christ  is  understood  to  be  the  Rock  and  Peter  the  church. 
Therefore,  this  church  which  Peter  represented,  so  long  as  she 
prospers  among  evil  men,  is  by  loving  and  by  following  Christ 
freed  from  evil,  but  much  more  does  she  follow  in  the  case  of 
those  who  fight  for  the  truth  even  unto  death." 

These  things  Augustine  teaches  throughout,  in  agreement 
with  the  apostle,  that  Christ  alone  is  the  foundation  and 
Rock  upon  which  the  church  is  built.  To  this  the  apostle 
Peter  speaks,  when  he  says:  "Unto  whom  coming,  a  living 
stone,  rejected  indeed  of  men,  but  of  God  elect  and  precious, 
ye  also,  as  living  stones,  are  built  upon  into  spiritual  houses^ 
to  be  a  holy  priesthood  to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices  unto  God 
through  Jesus  Christ,"  I  Peter  2  :  /^  sq.  For  this  reason  the 
Scripture  continues:  ''Behold  I  lay  in  Zion  a  chief  corner- 
stone, elect,  precious,  and  he  that  beheveth  on  Him  shall  not 
be  put  to  shame.  For  you,  therefore,  that  believe  is  the  honor, 
but  for  such  as  disbelieve,  the  stone  which  the  builders  re- 
jected, the  same  was  made  the  head  of  the  corner  and  a  stone 
of  stumbling  and  a  Rock  of  offense.  For  they  stumble  at  the 
word  and  do  not  believe  that  whereunto  they  were  appointed." 
Paul  also  said:  "Israel  following^  after  a  law  of  righteousness 
did  not  arrive  at  the  law  of  righteousness.  Wherefore?  Be- 
cause they  sought  it  not  by  faith  but^  by  works.  They  stum- 
bled at  the  stone  of  stumbling,  as  is  written.  Behold  I  lay  in 
Zion  a  stone  of  stumbUng  and  a  rock  of  offense,  and  he  that  be- 
lieveth  on  him  shall  not  be  put  to  shame,"  Romans  9:31  sqq. 
Behold  how  these  two  Roman  apostles  and  bishops,  Peter 
and  Paul,  prove  from  Scripture  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is 

'  In  domos  spirituales.    The  Vulgate:  domus  spirilualis,  etc. 

2  The  text  here  has  non,  not,  which  must  be  a  mistake  for  the  Vulgate's  vera. 

^  Vulgate  adds  quasi. 


THE   CHURCH  FOUNDED  ON  CHRIST         77 

himself  the  stone  and  the  Rock  of  foundation,  for  the  Lord 
says:  ''Behold  I  will  lay  for  a  foundation  in  Zion  a  corner- 
stone tried  and  precious,  a  stone  of  sure  foundation,"  Isaiah 
28  :  16.  And  also  in  the  Psalms  118  :  22.  ''The  stone  which 
the  builders  rejected  has  been  made  the  head  of  the  corner."^ 
Therefore,  Christ  himself  is  the  foundation  of  the  apostles 
and  the  whole  church,  and  in  him  it  is  fitly  framed  to- 
gether. 

For  this  reason  the  apostle  says:  "So  then  ye  are  no  more 
strangers  and  sojourners,  but  ye  are  fellow  citizens  with  the 
saints  and  of  the  household  of  God,  being  built  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  him- 
self being  the  chief  corner-stone,  in  whom  each  several  build- 
ing fitly  framed  together  groweth  into  a  holy  temple  unto 
the  Lord,"  Eph.  2  :  19-21.  Here  St.  Remigius  says  [Migne's 
ed.,  117  :  711]:  "The  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets 
and  of  all  the  faithful  is  Christ  because  they  are  established 
and  grounded  in  faith  in  him,  just  as  he  himself  said,  'On 
this  Rock'  that  is,  'on  myself,  I  will  build  my  church,' 
which  consists  of  angels  and  righteous  men.  For  every  one 
that  hath  faith  in  Christ  is  founded  upon  him,  Christ  Jesus 
himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone.  How,  then,  is  Christ 
the  foundation  and  the  chief  stone?  For  this  reason,  that 
faith  begins  with  him  and  is  perfected  and  completed  in  him 
and  by  him  so  that  all  the  elect  are  grounded  in  him."  Thus 
Remigius  Haymo.^ 

From  these  things  it  is  plain  that  Christ  alone  is  the 
chief  foundation  of  the  church,  and  in  this  sense  the  apostle 
thought  of  that  foundation,  because  he  did  not  dare  to  speak 
of  anything  except  what  was  built  upon  that  foundation. 
Hence  he  says:  "I  will  not  dare  to  speak  of  any  thing  save 
those  which  Christ  wrought  through  me  by  the  obedience 

'  I  Cor.  10  :  4,  the  Rock  that  followed  them  was  Christ,  is  the  only  passage 
of  the  sort  Huss  applies  to  Christ  in  the  Super  IV.  Sent.,  p.  559. 

-  Remigius,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  d.  about  910,  wrote  in  part  under  the  pseu- 
donym of  Haymo  of  Halberstadt. 


78  THE  CHURCH 

of  God*  in  word,  and  in  deeds,  and  in  the  power  of  signs  and 
wonders,  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  so  I  have 
preached  this  Gospel  not  where  Christ  was  already  known, 
that  I  might  not  build  upon  another  man's  foundation," 
Romans  15:  18-20.  Was  not  this  that  apostle,  a  vessel  of 
election,  who  said  he  did  not  dare  to  preach  anything  save 
those  things  which  Christ  spoke  through  him;  for  otherwise 
he  would  not  be  building  on  Christ,  the  most  effectual  foun- 
dation, if  perchance  he  should  say  and  teach  or  do  anything 
which  did  not  have  its  foundation  in  Jesus  Christ.  And  from 
this  it  is  plain,  that  not  Peter  but  the  Rock,  Christ,  was  in- 
tended in  Christ's  Gospel,  when  Christ  said:  ''On  this  Rock 
I  will  build  my  church." 

But  the  objection  is  drawn  from  Ambrose,  Dist.  50  [Fried- 
berg,  I  :  198],  where  he  says:  "Peter  became  more  faithful 
after  he  had  wept  over  having  relinquished  his  faith  and  so 
he  found  greater  grace  than  he  lost.  For  as  a  good  shepherd 
he  received  the  flock  to  care  for  it  so  that,  as  he  had  been  weak 
to  himself,  he  might  become  a  buttress— Jirmamentum — to  all, 
and  he  who  faltered,^  under  the  temptation  of  a  question, 
might  establish  others  by  the  steadfastness  of  his  faith. 
Finally,  in  order  to  strengthen  the  devotion  of  the  churches, 
he  was  called  rock,  as  the  Lord  said:  'thou  art  Peter  and 
upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church.'  For  he  is  called 
petra — rock — because  he  was  to  be  the  first  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  the  faith  among  the  nations,^  and,  as  an  immov- 
able bowlder — saxum — he  held  up  the  structure  and  weighty 
edifice  of  the  whole  of  Christ's  work."  So  much  Ambrose, 
showing  that  Peter  is  called  the  rock.  The  exposition  of 
Augustine,  the  foremost  of  Scripture  expositors,  seems  to  me 
here  to  be  more  efiicacious  and  is  more  efficacious  because  it 

'  The  Vulgate :  in  obedientiam  gentium. 

2  Nutaverat.  Huss  here  has  muiaverat  se.  The  se  is  retained  in  Friedberg's 
ed.  of  the  Corp.jur.  can.,  although,  as  there  indicated,  many  MSS.  and  editors 
omit  it. 

*  In  nationibus  ;  Huss's  text  has  wrongly  imilationis. 


THE  CHURCH  FOUNDED  ON  CHRIST         79 

is  founded  in  the  very  words  of  Scripture  which  says  that 
Christ  is  the  Rock  and  the  corner-stone  and  the  effectual 
foundation.  But  nowhere  in  Scripture  do  we  expressly  read 
that  Peter  is  a  rock.  Nor  did  Christ,  who  was  able  to  say  it 
easily — leviter — say:  "Thou  art  the  Rock,  and  on  thee,  the 
Rock,  I  will  build  my  church."  What  he  said  was:  ''Thou 
art  Peter,"  that  is  the  confessor  of  the  true  Rock,  "and 
upon  this  Rock,"  which  thou  hast  confessed,  "I  will  build 
my  church."  But  Christ  builds  the  church  upon  himself, 
by  faith,  hope,  and  love.  Hence  we  believe  and  hope  in 
Christ  and  not  in  Peter,  and  we  are  bound  to  have  more 
love  and  affection  for  Christ  than  for  Peter.  For  the  fathers 
of  the  Old  Testament  did  not  believe  or  hope  in  Peter,  who 
was  to  come,  but  in  the  Rock.  Nor  did  the  saints  of  the 
New  Testament  believe  and  hope  in  Peter  but  in  Christ, 
who  is  objectively  [the  object  of]  our  faith  and  hope. 

It  must  be  granted  that  the  apostles  are  foundations  of 
the  church  but  not  in  the  same  way  as  Christ  is  the  foun- 
dation. For  Christ  is  the  foundation  of  foundations,  as  he 
also  is  the  holiest  of  the  holy.  This  is  expressed  by  St.  Au- 
gustine on  Psalm  86  [Nic.  Fathers,  8  :  420]:  "His  foundations 
are  in  the  mountains,"  etc.  Here  he  shows  that  the  chief 
foundation  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  Zion,  and  also 
its  corner-stone  is  Christ;  and  the  mountains  are  the  proph- 
ets and  apostles  in  whom  are  the  foundations  of  the  church. 
And  Augustine  says:  "That  ye  may  come  to  know  that 
Christ  is  the  first  and  the  great  foundation,  the  apostle  says, 
'other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  which  is  laid, 
which  is  Christ  Jesus.'"  How,  then,  can  the  prophets  and 
the  apostles  be  foundations  and  at  the  same  time  Christ 
be  the  foundation  beyond  whom  there  is  nothing?  How  do 
we  think  but  figuratively  of  the  foundation  of  foundations, 
except  as  he  is  expressly  called  the  holiest  of  the  holy?  If, 
therefore,  thou  thinkest  of  the  sacraments,  Christ  is  the  holi- 
est of  the  holy;  if  thou  thinkest  of  an  obedient  flock,  Christ 


8o  THE   CHURCH 

is  the  shepherd  of  shepherds;  if  thou  thinkest  of  the  edifice, 
Christ  is  the  foundation  of  foundations. 

And  later  he  [Augustine]  gives  the  reason  for  the  prophets 
and  apostles  being  called  the  foundations  of  the  structure  of 
the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  asks:  ''Why  are  they  the  foun- 
dations? Because  their  authority  bears  up — portat — our  in- 
firmity. How  are  they  gates — porta  ?  Because  by  them  we 
go  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  they  preach  to  us.  And 
as  we  go  in  by  them,  so  we  go  in  by  Christ,  for  he  is  the 
door.  And  there  are  said  to  be  twelve  gates  of  Jerusalem, 
and  Christ  is  the  one  gate  and  Christ  is  the  twelve  gates, 
because  Christ  is  in  the  twelve  gates."  Thus  much  Augus- 
tine. And  on  that  text  of  Rev.  21  :  14,  "The  wall  of  the 
city  having  twelve  foundations,"  the  Gloss  says:  "that  is 
the  prophets  in  whose  faith  the  apostles  were  grounded,  for 
from  them  faith  passed  on  by  succession  to  the  apostles, 
whose  preaching  had  the  same  belief  as  had  the  prophets 
who  also  said  the  same  thing.  Or  let  us  accept  the  apostles 
as  the  foundations  in  whom  the  whole  fortification  of  the 
church  is  grounded.  Again,  in  this  passage  it  is  said:  "All 
the  foundations  of  the  wall  of  the  city  are  adorned  with  a 
precious  stone,  and  the  first  foundation  was  jasper."  The 
Gloss  says:  "The  foundations,  that  is,  the  prophets  and  apos- 
tles, are  adorned  in  themselves  with  graces  of  every  kind." 

Behold  how  Christ  is  the  foundation  of  the  church  and 
the  apostles  are  the  foundations !  Christ  is  by  a  figure  of 
speech — antonomasiice — the  foundation  because  the  edifice  of 
the  church  begins  from  him  and  is  finished  in  him  and  through 
him.  But  the  prophets  and  apostles  are  the  foundations  be- 
cause their  authority  bears  up  our  weakness.  And  this  was  the 
sense  intended  by  Ambrose  when  he  said:  "That  Peter  was 
called  the  rock  because  he  was  the  first  to  lay  in  the  nations  ^ 
the  foundations  of  the  faith;  and,  like  an  immovable  rock," 
that  is,  by  the  steadfastness  with  which  he  endured  to  the 
'  Huss's  text  has  imitatorihus  instead  of  in  nationibus , 


THE   CHURCH  FOUNDED   ON  CHRIST         8i 

end,  "he  held  together  the  structure  and  weighty  edifice  of 
the  whole  of  Christ's  work."  For  truly  the  foundation  with 
which  the  church  is  grounded  in  Christ  is  the  faith  which 
Peter  confessed,  when  he  said:  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God."  And  of  this  foundation  Paul  said, 
I  Cor.  3  :  lo:  "According  to  the  grace  which  is  given  unto 
me,  as  a  wise  master  builder,  I  laid  the  foundation,"  that 
is  to  say,  by  teaching  the  faith  of  Christ.  And  he  adds: 
"And  another  buildeth  thereon,"  that  is,  he  does  good  works 
on  the  basis  of  faith.  "  But  let  each  man  take  heed  how  he 
buildeth  thereon,"  that  is,  his  spiritual  Hfe  in  Christ.  For 
Paul  adds:  "Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is 
laid,  which  is  Christ.  And  if  any  man  build  upon  this  foun- 
dation gold" — that  is,  the  doctrine  of  deity  and  heavenly 
things — "silver" — that  is,  the  doctrine  of  the  humanity  of 
Christ  and  created  things — "precious  stones" — graces  which 
adorn  the  soul  and  its  faculties — he  without  doubt  is  built 
upon  Christ.  So  the  apostles  built  when  they  taught  with 
clearness  and  fervor  the  doctrine  of  the  deity  and  humanity 
and  the  Christian  graces  and,  when  they  lived  in  the  flesh, 
planted  with  their  blood  the  church  of  Christ.  But  which 
of  them  built  upon  Christ  and  planted  the  church  on  Christ 
more  industriously,  this  we  shall  no  doubt  know  when  we 
reach  the  heavenly  country,  the  Lord  himself  being  our 
leader. 

It  is  conceded,  however,  that  Peter  had  his  humihty,  pov- 
erty, steadfastness  of  faith,  and,  consequently,  his  blessed- 
ness from  the  Rock  of  the  church,  which  is  Christ.  But  that 
by  the  words  "On  this  Rock  I  will  build  my  church"  Christ 
should  have  intended  to  build  the  whole  militant  church  upon 
the  person  of  Peter,  the  faith  of  the  Gospel,  as  expounded 
by  Augustine,  and  reason  declare  untrue.  For  on  the  Rock, 
which  is  Christ,  from  whom  Peter  received  his  strength, 
Christ  was  to  build  his  church,  since  Christ  is  the  head  and 
the  foundation  of  the  whole  church,  and  not  Peter.     On  the 


82  THE   CHURCH 

other  hand,  St.  Dionysius/  de  divinis  nominibus,  3,  calls  St. 
Peter  the  peak,  that  is,  the  capital  or  captain.  And  in  his 
book  which  he  wrote  on  the  death  of  the  apostles  Peter  and 
Paul,  he  thus  addresses  Titus:  "As  Peter  and  Paul  were 
being  led  to  the  place  of  martyrdom  and  were  about  to  be 
separated,  one  from  the  other,  Paul  addressed  to  Peter  these 
words:  'Peace  be  to  thee,  O  foundation  of  the  churches  and 
shepherd  of  Christ's  sheep  and  lambs!'"  In  the  same  way 
Augustine,  in  his  Questions  on  the  Old  and  New  Law,  says 
that  "Peter  was  the  first  among  the  apostles."  So  likewise 
Pope  Marcellus,  24  :  i,  Rogamus  [Friedberg,  i  :  970],^  says: 
"We  beseech  you,  brethren,  that  ye  teach  no  otherwise  than 
as  ye  have  received  from  St.  Peter  and  the  other  apostles, 
for  he  is  the  head  of  the  whole  church,  to  whom  the  Lord 
said:  'Thou  art  Peter  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my 
church. ' "  Likewise  Pope  Anacletus,  Dist.  21,^  in  novo  [Fried- 
berg, I  :  69]:  "In  the  New  Testament  after  Christ's  death, 
the  priestly  order  began  with  Peter,  because  to  him  as  the 
first  was  given  the  pontificate  in  Christ's  church  even  as  the 
Lord  said  to  him:  'Thou  art  Peter  and  upon  this  rock  I  will 
build  my  church.'  He,  therefore,  was  the  first  to  receive 
from  the  Lord  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing  and  he  was 
the  first  to  lead  the  people  to  the  faith  by  the  power  of  his 
preaching.  And  truly  the  other  apostles  received  with  him 
in  virtue  of  equal  fellowship  honor  and  power."  Likewise, 
it  is  commonly  said  that  Peter  was  the  head  of  the  church 
because  he  was  called  Cephas,  which  by  interpretation  is  head. 

*  Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  once  identified  with  St.  Denis  and  regarded 
as  first  bishop  of  Athens,  wrote  probably  about  500,  as  he  is  first  quoted  533, 
and  shows  the  influence  of  Alexandrian  neo-Platonism.  He  was  much  quoted 
in  the  Middle  Ages  and  has  a  strong  mystical  vein.  His  Eccles.  Hierarchy  and 
his  Heavenly  Hierarchy  were  issued  by  John  Colet  and  reissued  by  Lupton  with 
trsl.,  London,  1869. 

2  Marcellus,  pope,  308-309.     The  quotation  is  from  Pseudo-Isidore. 

'Anacletus,  79?-9i?,  placed  by  the  Catholics  in  the  list  of  popes  second 
after  Peter.  Linus,  Anacletus,  Clement  were  probably  contemporary  presby- 
ters in  Rome,  as  Lipsius  says.  This  quotation  is  from  Pseudo-Isidore.  Thirty 
quotations  are  ascribed  to  Anacletus  in  the  Corp.  jur.  can. 


THE   CHURCH  FOUNDED   ON  CHRIST         83 

By  what  was  said  above  in  Chapters  II,  III,  IV,  namely, 
that  the  holy  universal  church  is  one  and  consists  of  all  the 
predestinate  that  are  to  be  saved  and  that  Christ  alone  is 
the  head  of  the  church,  just  as  he  alone  is  the  most  exalted 
person  in  the  church,  imparting  to  it  and  to  its  members 
motion  and  understanding  unto  the  life  of  grace,  so  it  is  evi- 
dent that  Peter  never  was  and  is  not  now  the  head  of  the 
holy  cathohc  church.  And  the  dictum  of  St.  Dionysius  is 
true,  that  Peter  was  the  captain  among  the  apostles  and  was 
the  foundation  of  churches,  as  is  said  in  the  next  chapter 
of  the  apostles.  And  the  dictum  of  Augustine  is  also  true, 
that  by  a  certain  prerogative  Peter  was  the  first  among  the 
apostles.  And  the  dictum  of  Marcellus  is  also  true,  that 
Peter  was  the  head  of  the  whole  church  which  he  ruled  by 
his  teaching  and  example.  But  he  was  not  a  person  higher 
in  dignity  than  Christ's  mother;  nor  was  he  equal  to  Christ 
or  made  the  governor  of  the  angels  who,  at  that  time,  were 
the  church  triumphant. 

Therefore,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  much  doubt  to  the  simple 
Christian — faithful — that  Peter  did  not  dare  to  claim  to  be 
the  head  of  the  holy  catholic  church,  for  the  reason  that  he 
did  not  rule  over  the  whole  church  and  did  not  excel  above 
the  whole  church  in  dignity,  nor  was  he  the  bridegroom  of 
the  catholic  church.  John  the  Baptist,  than  whom,  according 
to  the  testimony  of  the  truth  in  Matt.  11  :  11,  "There  hath 
not  risen  a  greater  among  those  born  of  women,"  did  not 
dare  to  call  himself  the  bridegroom,  but  in  humility  confessed 
himself  the  bridegroom's  friend.  And  when  his  disciples  in 
their  zeal  for  him  said,  "Rabbi,  he  that  was  with  thee 
beyond  Jordan  to  whom  thou  hast  borne  witness,  behold 
the  same  baptizeth  and  all  men  come  to  him,"  John  an- 
swered them  and  said:  "A  man  can  receive  nothing  except 
it  have  been  given  from  heaven.  Ye  yourselves  bear  me  wit- 
ness I  have  said  I  am  not  the  Christ,  but  that  I  am  sent 
before  him.     He  that  hath  the  bride  is  the  bridegroom:  but 


84  THE   CHURCH 

it  is  sufficient  for  me  that  I  am  the  bridegroom's  friend 
that  standeth  and  heareth  with  joy^  the  bridegroom's  voice," 
John  3  :  27-29.  And  the  bridegroom  said:  *'Ye  are  my 
friends  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command  you,"  John  15  :  14. 
Thus  it  is  evident  that  it  would  be  the  highest  arrogance 
and  folly  for  any  man,  Christ  excepted,  to  call  himself  the 
head  and  the  bridegroom  of  the  holy  catholic  church. 

But  the  reason  for  Christ's  appointing  Peter  after  himself 
as  captain  and  shepherd  was  the  pre-eminence  of  virtues  fit- 
ting him  to  rule  the  church.  For  otherwise  the  Wisdom^  of 
the  Father  would  have  unwisely  appointed  him  the  bishop 
of  his  church.  And  as  all  moral  virtues  are  bound  together 
in  a  class — in  genere — it  is  evident  that  Peter  had  a  certain 
pre-eminence  in  the  entire  class  of  virtues.  But  there  were 
three  virtues  in  which  Peter  excelled,  namely,  faith,  humil- 
ity, and  love.  Faith,  which  properly  is  the  foundation  of 
the  church,  excelled  in  Peter  because  of  what  the  best  of 
Masters  ordained,  Matt.  16  :  16,  in  answer  to  that  question 
which  he  asked  about  himself:  "Whom  do  men  say  that  I 
the  Son  of  man  am?"  To  this  Peter  replied  for  all,  saying: 
''Thou  art  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  Here  he  confessed 
Christ's  humanity  by  which  he  meant  that  Christ  was  the 
Messiah  promised  to  the  fathers.  The  second  part  confesses 
Christ  as  the  natural  Son  of  the  living  God,  and  so  Peter 
confessed  Christ  to  be  very  God  and  very  man.  And  among 
all  the  articles  of  faith,  this  one  appertains  most  to  the  edi- 
fication of  the  church,  for,  according  to  St.  John,  the  Son  of 
God  overcometh  the  world:  "Who  is  he  that  overcometh 
the  world  but  he  that  believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of 
God?"  I  John  5  :  5.  For,  when  this  foundation  is  laid,  the 
belief  follows  that  all  things  which  Christ  did  or  taught  are 
to  be  accepted  without  any  detraction  by  the  whole  church. 

1  Audlens  cunt  gaudio.    The  Vulgate:  aitdiat  eum,  gandio  gaudet  propter  vocem. 
-  Referring  to  Prov.  8,  Wisdom  being  interpreted  to  mean  the  second  per- 
son of  the  Trinity  by  the  old  commentators. 


THE   CHURCH  FOUNDED  ON  CHRIST         85 

And  so  Peter  heard  from  the  Lord's  Hps  the  words:  "Blessed 
art  thou,  Simon  Bar- Jonah,  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  re- 
vealed this  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 
And  because  of  this  faith  Peter  received  the  burden  of  the 
church's  prefecture.  And  the  Rock  said:  "I  say  that  thou 
art  Peter  and  upon  this  Rock  I  will  build  my  church."  Hence, 
on  account  of  these  things  Peter's  vicars  and  those  appointed 
to  rule  in  the  church  are  bound  to  preach  the  church's  faith. 
Therefore,  the  Saviour  said:  "I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that 
thy  faith  fail  not;  and  do  thou,  when  once  thou  hast  turned 
again,  establish  thy  brethren,"  Luke  22:32.  Therefore, 
praying  for  faith,  "he  was  heard  for  his  godly  fear,"  Heb. 

5  ••  7- 

In  the  second  place  the  Lord  joined  with  him  the  pri- 
macy of  office.  After  my  death,  he  said:  "I  will  give  to  thee 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  that  is,  the  keys  of  the 
church,  which  I  will  strengthen  and  defend  against  the  church 
of  the  wicked  by  giving  to  thee  the  power  of  binding  and  loos- 
ing that  thou  mayest,  not  without  avail,  hold  the  keys  of  the 
church  which  I  have  given  thee  for  thy  meritorious  confession 
of  my  humanity  and  deity,  of  which,  taught  by  the  Father, 
after  a  heavenly  manner,  thou  didst  say:  "Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  Therefore,  because  of 
his  confession,  so  confident  and  profound,  he  was  called 
Cephas,  which  is  by  interpretation  Peter,  John  i  :  42.  For 
this  reason  Jerome,  expert  in  languages,  says:  "that  Cephas 
means  Peter,  or  firmness,  and  that  it  is  a  Syriac  not  a  He- 
brew word."  This  affords  the  solution  of  the  last  objec- 
tion; for  Cephas  does  not  mean  head,  according  to  the 
Gospel  and  Jerome,  but  Peter. 

Peter's  second  virtue  was  humility.  Inasmuch  as  Peter 
heard  from  his  Master  the  words,  "Learn  of  me,  for  I  am 
meek  and  lowly  of  heart,"  Matt.  11  :  29  and,  "whosoever 
will  be  great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  minister;  and  who- 
soever will  be  first  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant,"  Matt. 


86  THE  CHURCH 

23  :  11;  Mark  10  :  43 — how  should  he  not  be  of  an  humble 
spirit,  above  others,  in  regard  to  the  prerogative  which  he 
had  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  Hence  it  is  said  with  prob- 
ability that  Peter  asked  questions  and  answered  questions 
with  humility  just  as  he  bore  himself,  above  others,  in  hu- 
mility to  perform  his  ministry  in  the  church.  For,  sent  by 
the  apostles  to  Samaria,  he  went  humbly  with  John,  Acts 
8  :  14.  And  so,  called  to  Joppa,  he  went  humbly,  and  there 
for  many  days  he  tarried  with  Simon  the  tanner.  Called 
by  Cornelius  from  Joppa,  he  proceeded  humbly  to  Caesarea, 
Acts  10  :  18.  And  also  at  the  council  of  the  apostles  and 
the  church  [at  Jerusalem,  51  A.  D.],  after  he  had  finished 
his  speech,  when  James  stated  the  case  and  said:  "Hearken 
unto  me;  Simon  hath  declared,"  etc.  And  then  James  adds 
a  statement:  "Wherefore  my  judgment  is  that  we  trouble 
not  them  that  from  among  the  Gentiles  turn  unto  God," 
Acts  15  :  19.  It  is  also  narrated  how  Peter  went  every- 
where throughout  all  parts,  preaching  humbly  the  Word  of 
God,  Acts  9  :  32.  Being  sharply  rebuked  by  Paul,  he  bore 
it  humbly,  Gal.  2  :  11.  And  all  these  things  he  did,  not  for 
worldly  honor  and  advantage  but  in  an  humble  and  obedi- 
ent spirit  and  to  support  the  honor  of  the  law  of  Christ. 
Therefore,  in  these  things  we  read  the  full  greatness  of  Peter 
the  apostle  which  is  to  be  measured  by  the  humility  of  his 
service,  as  appears  from  the  definition  of  the  Master:  "Whoso 
humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted,"  Matt.  23  :  12. 

As  for  the  third  virtue,  love,  it  is  plain  that  Peter  had 
this  in  certain  respects  above  the  others,  as  appears  from  the 
fervor  of  his  acts  which  fittingly  proceed  from  greater  love. 
This  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  otherwise  he  would  have 
been  ungrateful,  if  he  had  not  loved  his  Master,  in  a  way 
corresponding  to  Him  who  had  loved  him  in  so  peculiar  a 
way,  and  wiped  him  clean  from  his  great  blasphemy  and 
graciously  placed  him  over  his  sheep.  Again  it  is  confirmed 
by  this,  that  otherwise  there  would  have  been  no  fitness  in  the 


THE  CHURCH  FOUNDED   ON  CHRIST         87 

Master  asking  him,  "Simon,  son  of  John,  lovest  thou  me  more 
than  these?"  and  then  immediately  committing  to  him  his 
sheep  to  feed,  John  21  :  15.  But  here  it  should  be  noted 
that  the  reasons  for  loving  Christ  are  manifold.  Some  love 
Christ  more  than  others  on  the  ground  of  his  divinity,  as 
is  believed  to  have  been  the  case  with  John  the  Evangelist; 
others  because  of  his  humanity,  as  is  believed  to  have  been 
the  case  with  Philip;  and  others  love  Christ  because  of  his 
body  which  is  the  church,  and  so  men  love  him  for  many 
other  reasons,  for  which,  in  the  case  of  a  certain  saint,  they 
quote  Ecclesiasticus  42:  "No  one  has  been  found  like  unto 
him  in  keeping  the  law  of  the  Most  High."  Peter's  pre-emi- 
nence is  manifest  from  his  faith,  humility,  love,  yea,  and  also 
from  his  poverty  and  endurance.  For  he  said  to  the  man 
asking  an  alms:  "Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,  but  such  as 
I  have  give  I  thee,"  Acts  3:6.  And,  because  he  heard  from 
the  Master  the  words,  "In  your  patience  possess  ye  your 
souls,"  Luke  21  :  19,  it  seems  probable  that,  after  his  de- 
nial of  the  Master,  Peter  stood  for  that  very  reason  more 
ready  to  endure  martyrdom  and  especially  for  the  reason 
that,  recognizing  his  weakness,  he  had  fresh  in  his  mind  the 
memory  of  his  own  frailty  in  denying  his  Master.  And  for 
this  reason  he  stooped  in  humility  to  others  and  was  more 
ready  to  suffer  imprisonments,  even  imto  death,  for  the  Lord 
whom  he  denied.  Nor  is  it  to  be  doubted  that  he  bore  with 
an  humble  mind  Herod's  prison  in  Jerusalem,  the  prison  of 
Theophilus  in  Antioch,  and  Nero's  prison  at  Rome. 

If  he,  who  is  called  to  be  Peter's  vicar,  follows  in  the 
paths  of  the  virtues  just  spoken  of,  we  believe  that  he  is 
his  true  vicar  and  the  chief  pontiff  of  the  church  over  which 
he  rules.  But,  if  he  walks  in  the  opposite  paths,  then  he  is 
the  legate  of  antichrist  at  variance  with  Peter  and  Jesus 
Christ.    Therefore,  St.  Bernard,  de  consideratione,  IV,^  writes 

^The  most  famous  book  ever  written  on  the  papal  office,  prepared  at  the 
request  of  Eugenius  III,  by  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  d.  1153.     It  was  much 


88  THE  CHURCH 

as  follows:  "Among  these  things  thou  walkest  in  the  van  a 
shepherd  overomamented  with  gold  even  in  the  midst  of 
an  environment  so  varied.  Why  do  they  seize  the  sheep? 
If  I  may  dare,  I  will  say  that  these  are  the  pasture  grounds 
of  demons  rather  than  of  sheep.  Not  in  this  way^  did  Peter 
act,  or  Paul  frisk  about."  And  he  adds:  "Either  deny  to 
the  people  that  thou  art  shepherd  or  show  thyself  such. 
Thou  wilt  not  deny  it  lest  he  whose  place  thou  holdest  deny 
thee  to  be  the  heir.  He  is  Peter  who  is  not  known  to  go 
about  in  processions,  ornamented  with  gems  or  silks,  not  clad 
in  gold  or  carried  by  a  white  horse,  or  compassed  about  with 
soldiers,  and  surrounded  by  bustling  servants.  Without  such 
things,  Peter  beheved  he  was  able  to  fulfil  sufficiently  the 
salutary  commandment:  'If  thou  lovest  me,  feed  my  sheep.' 
In  things  like  these  thou  hast  followed  not  Peter,  but  Con- 
stantine."     Thus  far  Bernard, 

That  holy  man  knew  that  Pope  Eugenius  ought  to  be  a 
vicar  in  poverty  and  humility,  not  in  pride  but  in  feeding 
the  sheep,  following  Peter,  For  that  man  is  a  true  vicar 
of  him  whose  place  he  fills  and  from  whom  he  has  lawfully 
received  the  procuratorial  power.  But  no  one  can  truly  and 
acceptably  to  Christ  rule  in  Christ's  stead  or  the  stead  of 
Peter  without  following  him  in  his  life — moribus  ^ — since  there 
is  no  other  fitting  way  of  following  him  except  he  receive 
subject  to  this  condition  from  God  procuratorial  power.     Thus 

quoted  by  Huss,  also  in  other  writings,  and  by  the  title  ad  Eugenium.  Although 
Eugenius  was  his  spiritual  son,  Bernard  addressed  him  as  "most  holy  father." 
He  recalls  the  pope  from  the  love  of  pomp  and  wealth  to  spiritual  humility 
and  the  proper  business  of  the  pope  who,  although  pastor  of  pastors,  is  greatest 
when  he  is  servant  of  all.  He  is  in  the  line  of  the  primacy  of  Abel,  Abraham, 
Moses,  Aaron,  and  Peter.  Both  Ultramontanes  and  Galileans  claim  the  treatise 
for  their  position.  Bp.  Reinkens's  trsl.,  Munster,  1870,  pp.  170,  the  Old  Catholic 
divine,  represented  the  second  view.  Besides  the  ed.  of  Migne,  Schneider's  ed., 
Berlin,  1850.  The  passage  quoted  is  Schneider,  pp.  75  sq.  Reinkens,  pp.  114, 
116.     See  Schaff,  Ch.  Hist.,  V,  pt.  i  :  776  sq. 

*  Non  sic.  Bernard  has  scilicet,  the  words  being  spoken  in  irony.  Below 
Huss  has  neges  instead  of  neget,  deny. 

-  Literally,  morals  denoting  the  disposition  or  principles  as  well  as  the  out- 
ward act. 


THE  CHURCH  FOUNDED   ON  CHRIST        89 

there  is  required  for  such  an  office  as  that  of  vicar  conformity 
of  life  and  authority  from  the  person  instituting  it,  and  to 
this  one  [such  a  vicar]  the  Saviour  at  the  Last  Supper  com- 
mitted the  institution  of  the  venerable  sacrament.  And  con- 
stituting his  disciples  his  vicars  that  they  might  so  do  in 
remembrance  of  him,  he  said:  "I  have  given  you  an  ex- 
ample that  ye  also  should  do  as  I  have  done  to  you,"  John 
13  :  15.  He  also  said:  "Whosoever  shall  do  and  teach  them 
he  shall  be  called  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  Matt. 

5  :  19- 

On  this  point  St.  Jerome  ad  Heliodorum,  also  Decretum, 
Dist.  40  [Friedberg,  i  :  145],  says:  "It  is  not  easy  to  fill  the 
place  of  Peter  and  Paul  in  occupying  the  chair — cathedra— 
of  those  who  reign  with  Christ,  because  it  was  said,  'they 
are  not  the  children  of  saints  who  hold  the  places  of  saints, 
but  they  who  do  their  good  works.'"  St.  Gregory  [Fried- 
berg, I  :  146]  says  the  same:  "Neither  places  nor  orders 
make  us  near  to  our  Creator,  but  our  good  works  bind  us 
together  or  our  evil  works  separate  us."  Likewise  Chrys- 
ostom,  Dist.  40  :  12  [Friedberg,  i  :  147],  says:  "Many 
priests  there  are,  and  few;  many  in  name,  and  few  in  works. 
See,  therefore,  how  ye  sit  in  the  official  chair,  for  the  chair 
does  not  make  the  priest,  but  the  priest  makes  the  chair: 
the  place  does  not  sanctify  the  man,  but  the  man  the  place. 
Not  every  priest  is  holy;  but  every  holy  person  is  a  priest. 
He  who  sits  well  in  the  official  chair  gives^  honor  to  the 
chair;  he  who  sits  there  ill  does  injury  to  it.  Therefore 
a  bad  priest  gets  criminahty  from  his  priesthood  not  dig- 
nity." 

Likewise,  we  have  this  from  the  Acts  of  Boniface-Martyr 
[Friedberg,  i  :  146]:  "If  a  pope  neglect  his  own  and  his 
brother's  salvation  and  be  reproved  as  useless,  remiss  in  his 
acts,  and  above  all  keeping  silent  about  the  good^  because 

^Facit.    In  the  Decretum,  accipH,  "has  received  the  honor  of  the  chair." 
2  De  bono,  omitted  by  Huss. 


90  THE  CHURCH 

he  serves  himself  rather  than  the  sheep/  none  the  less  he 
leads  an  innumerable  company  of  people  in  flocks  with  him- 
self to  be  beaten  together  with  himself,  as  the  property  of 
hell,  with  many  stripes  throughout  eternity."  Nor  is  it  nec- 
essary to  refer  to  many  saints,  for  the  Chief  Pontiff,  the  holiest 
of  the  holy  said:  "All  that  came  before  me  are  thieves  and 
robbers,"  John  lo  :  8.  Again  he  said  to  his  disciples:  "Ye 
are  the  salt  of  the  earth;  but  if  the  salt  hath  lost  its  savor, 
wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  ...  it  is  neither  useful  for  the 
land  nor  for  the  dunghUl,  but  it  is  cast  out,"  Matt.  5  :  13; 
Luke  14  :  34. 

Wishing  to  impose  this  judgment  upon  the  minds  of  men, 
that  most  good  Saviour  and  best  of  masters  immediately  added: 
"Who  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear."  Therefore,  let  every 
priest  see  to  it,  if  he  has  entered  well,  that  he  live  pure 
of  offense,  with  the  sincere  purpose  of  honoring  God  and 
profiting  the  church,  and  in  case  he  demean  himself  well, 
that  he  lay  little  store  by  mundane  honors  and  the  world's 
lucre.  For,  otherwise,  he  is  a  lying  antichrist,  and  the 
higher  his  office  the  greater  antichrist  he  is.  Let  the  hum- 
ble pilgrim  look  at  Christ  who  said:  "I  am  the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  fife,"  John  14  :  6.  Behold  he  who  wants  to 
go,  hath  the  way,  for  Christ  is  the  way,  and  whither  he  wants 
to  go,  for  Christ  is  the  truth,  and  where  he  wants  to  abide, 
for  Christ  is  the  life. 

•  The  Decretum  has  omnibus  instead  of  ovibus. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE   POWER   OF   BINDING   AND   LOOSING 

Now  as  to  the  power — authority — of  Christ,  given  by 
himself  to  his  vicars,  which  is  touched  upon  in  the  words, 
"I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven," 
that  is,  the  power  to  bind  and  to  loose  sins, — Augustine  says. 
Com.  on  John  21:  "The  effects  of  this  power  are  shown, 
when  Christ  adds,  'And  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth, 
shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose 
on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven.'  This  power  is  a  spiritual 
power.  Therefore,  it  is  to  be  noted,  that  spiritual  power  is  a 
power  of  the  spirit,  determining  its  acts  of  itself  so  that  a  ra- 
tional creature,  so  far  as  gracious  gifts  go,  may  be  guided  and 
have  his  own  distinctive  place  both  as  determined  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  subject  and  the  object."  Every  man,  how- 
ever, is  a  spirit,  since  he  has  two  natures;  as  the  Saviour  in 
speaking  to  his  disciples  said:  "Ye  know  not  what  spirit  ye 
are  of"  [Luke  9  :  55],  and  "every  spirit  that  confesseth  not 
Jesus  is  not  of  God,"  I  John  4  : 3.  Here  the  spirit  is  subtle 
and  heretical,  denying  Jesus  to  be  very  God  and  very  man. 
And  it  is  evident  that  whether  power  in  respect  to  God  and 
power  in  respect  to  rational  creatures  are  analogous  or  the 
analogy  is  to  be  restricted  to  the  powers  of  men  and  the 
powers  of  angels,  it  is  true  that  all  spiritual  power  is  a  power 
of  the  spirit.  And,  although  a  man  does  not  give  grace,  he 
nevertheless  administers  the  sacraments,  so  that  the  inferior 
is  guided  as  to  gifts  of  grace. 

But  although  bodily  power  may  be  the  result  of  gifts  of 
grace,  nevertheless  it  is  immediate,  so  that  the  creature  of 

91 


92  THE   CHURCH 

God  is  ruled  according  to  the  law  of  natural  things  or  of 
fortune.  So  every  man  is  seen  to  have  a  double  power;  for 
every  man  ought  to  have  the  power  over  the  movements  of 
his  members,  and  therefore  has  the  power  of  walking  in 
grace,  so  also  the  spiritual  power  has  manifold  subdivisions, 
for  there  is  one  power  of  orders  and  another  common  to  all. 
The  power  of  orders  is  called  the  spiritual  power.  This  is 
that  which  the  clergy  has  to  administer  the  sacraments  of 
the  church  that  the  clergy  may  profit  itself  and  the  laity, 
and  such  power  is  the  power  of  consecrating  the  mass,  ab- 
solving and  performing  the  other  sacramental  acts — sacra- 
mentalia.  For  the  power  of  consecrating  the  mass  exists 
of  itself  and  immediately,  that  the  priest  may  consecrate  just 
as  dispositions  of  moral  virtue  are  ordained  because  of  acts 
better  than  the  dispositions.  And  as  the  priest,  in  order 
that  he  may  consecrate  worthily,  is  guided  as  to  the  gifts  of 
grace,  the  above  description  holds. 

But  the  spiritual  power,  which  is  common,  is  the  power 
which  every  priest^  has  in  doing  spiritual  works  whether  in 
his  own  person  or  among  others,  and  about  these  the  verse 
reminds  us: 

Doce,  consule,  castiga,  solare,  remitte,  fer,  ora. 

Teach,  counsel,  punish,  console,  remit,  bear,  pray.^ 

For  as  many  as  received  Christ  by  faith  to  these  hath 
he  given  the  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  so  that  they 
may  guide  themselves  and  their  brethren  in  the  way  of  their 
Father  Christ,  and  by  rebuking  in  love  as  Christ  said:  "If 
thy  brother  sin  against  thee,  go  show  him  his  fault  between 
thee  and  him  alone,"  Matt.  i8  :  15. 

'  Plebanus,  the  term  common  in  the  M.  A.  for  the  parish  priest. 

^  The  seven  spiritual  gifts  of  mercy,  namely,  teach  the  ignorant,  direct  the 
doubting,  reprove  the  erring,  console  the  sorrowing,  forgive  those  indebted  to 
thee,  bear  the  infirmities  of  others,  pray  for  all — in  opposition  to  the  seven 
bodily  works  of  mercy:  Visito,  poto,  cibo,  redimo,  tego,  colligo,  condo,  namely,  I 
visit  the  sick,  give  drink  to  the  thirsty,  feed  the  hungry,  release  the  impris- 
oned, clothe  the  naked,  care  for  the  stranger,  bury  the  dead.  See  Huss,  Super 
IV.  Sent.,  p.  596. 


POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING  93 

Secular  power  is  twofold,  civil  and  common.  Civil  power, 
which  is  authoritative,  belongs  only  to  the  civil  lord.  But 
civil  power,  which  is  vicarious,  belongs  to  officials  or  servants. 
But  secular  power,  which  is  common  to  all,  is  the  power  by 
which  a  man  is  able  to  rule  himself  and  his  own  according 
to  the  gifts  of  nature  and  of  fortune.  And  thus,  just  as  a 
man  cannot  be  a  whole  man  without  body  and  soul,  nor  is 
the  adopted  child  of  God  complete  without  the  gifts  of  na- 
ture and  of  grace,  so  the  pilgrim  cannot  get  along  as  a  pil- 
grim unless  he  has  both  secular  and  spiritual  power  which 
are  common  to  all,  although  this  is  bound  in  the  case  of 
infants  and  the  dead.  But  spiritual  power  is  everywhere 
the  more  perfect  and  the  sacerdotal  power  exceeds  the  power 
of  kings  in  dignity  as  appears  from  Heb.  7:7:  "Greater  is 
he  that  blesses  and  less  is  he  who  is  blest." 

Hence  the  spiritual  power,  which  is  sacerdotal,  excels  the 
royal  in  age,  dignity,  and  usefulness.  In  age  it  excels,  be- 
cause the  priesthood  was  instituted  by  God's  command,  as 
appears  from  Ex.  28.  Later  at  God's  command  the  kingly 
power  was  instituted  by  the  priesthood,  as  appears  from 
Deut.  17  and  I  Sam.  12.  In  dignity  it  excels,  as  already 
said,  because  the  priest  as  the  greater  blesses,  consecrates 
and  anoints  the  king.  And  the  usefulness  is  evidently  greater 
for  the  reason  that  the  spiritual  power  is  in  and  of  itself  suf- 
ficient for  the  ruling  of  the  people,  as  appears  from  the  his- 
tory of  Israel,  which  down  to  the  time  of  Saul  was  salubri- 
ously administered  independent  of  the  kingly  authority. 
Therefore,  the  spiritual  power,  inasmuch  as  it  concerns  the 
best  things — things  having  their  sufficiency  in  themselves — 
excels  the  earthly  power,  since  the  latter  is  of  no  avail  inde- 
pendent of  the  spiritual  power  which  is  the  chief  regulative 
force.  On  the  other  hand,  the  spiritual  power  may  act  by 
itself  without  the  aid  of  the  earthly  power.  And,  for  this 
reason,  the  priests  who  abuse  this  power,  which  is  so  exalted, 
by  pride  or  other  open  sin,  fall  all  the  lower  with  the  devil 


94  THE   CHURCH 

into  hell,  and  this  is  in  accord  with  the  rule  of  St.  Gregory 
and  other  saints:  "The  higher  the  position  the  deeper  the 
faU." 

And  it  is  to  be  noted,  that  power  now  means  absolutely 
the  ability  to  regulate  and  rule  and  now  collectively  such 
ability  through  authoritative  notification  and  announcement. 
And  when  these  senses  are  equally  known,  it  is  evident,  there 
is  nothing  contradictory  in  the  principles  that  there  is  no 
power  but  of  God  and  yet  to  give  power  from  God,  that  is, 
make  an  authoritative  announcement  before  the  church  that  a 
created  being  has  from  God  power  of  this  sort.  Indeed  such 
a  bestowal,  so  far  as  part  of  it  is  concerned,  is  given  by  man 
but  not  imless  God  primarily  authorizes  it.  And  from  this 
we  may  further  understand  that  power  is  not  relaxed  or  stiff- 
ened, increased  or  diminished,  so  far  as  its  essence  goes,  but 
only  in  respect  to  the  exercise  of  the  act  which  proceeds  from 
the  power  itself.  And  this  exercise  ought  only  to  be  used 
when  a  reasonable  ground  exists  for  it  from  the  side  of  God. 
This  meaning  is  set  forth  in  Decretum  24  :  i,  Miramur  [Fried- 
berg,  I  :  981],  which  says:  "The  official  power  is  one  thing, 
the  exercise  of  it  another.  And  ofiicial  power  is  for  the  most 
part  held  in  restraint  in  the  case  of  monks  and  of  others,  such 
as  those  under  suspension,  who  are  inhibited  from  minister- 
ing, though  the  power  itself  is  not  taken  away  from  them.""^ 
In  like  manner  it  is  conceded  that  the  natural  power,  which 
is  free  will,  may  now  be  relaxed  by  grace  and  now  tightened 
[i.  e.,  increased  and  lessened].  And  in  this  way  the  seeming 
discordances  of  the  doctors  which  arise  by  ambiguity  of  lan- 
guage are  solved,  some  of  whom,  as  Anselm,  say,  "that  free 
will  cannot  be  lost  or  increased  or  diminished,"  while  others, 

'  In  regard  to  the  bishop,  Thomas  Aquinas  made  the  distinction  between 
the  power — potestas — of  doing  episcopal  acts  and  jurisdiction.  Even  a  bishop 
who  becomes  schismatic  or  heretic  retains  the  former,  but  loses  the  latter. 
Summa  Supplem.,  39  :  2  [Migne,  4  :  1065].  The  problem  of  the  validity  of  acts 
done  by  priests  who  have  become  schismatic  or  heretic  was  so  difficult  that 
Peter  the  Lombard  and  Gratian  thought  it  well-nigh  if  not  altogether  insoluble. 


POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING  95 

like  Augustine,  Enchiridion  [Nic.  Fathers,  3  :  247],  say,  that 
free  will  may  be  lost  through  sin  and  increased  through  grace. 
On  this  account  there  is  in  the  church  great  strife  about  the 
power  of  bestowment,  withdrawal  or  restriction.  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  known  that  when  God  and  reason  make  it  neces- 
sary for  the  profit  of  the  church  that  a  thing  should  be  done 
by  man,  then  and  not  otherwise  does  God  give  or  withdraw 
or  restrict  power  of  this  sort. 

Hence,  when  Christ  said  to  Peter:  "I  will  give  thee  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  that  is  the  power  of  binding 
and  loosing  sins,  he  said  in  the  person  of  Peter  to  the  whole 
church  militant,  that  not  does  any  person  whatever  of  the 
church  without  distinction  hold  those  keys,  but  that  the  whole 
church,  as  made  up  of  its  individual  parts,  as  far  as  they  are 
suitable  for  this,  holds  the  keys.  These  keys,  however,  are 
not  material  things,  but  they  are  spiritual  power  and  acquain- 
tance with  evangelical  knowledge,  and  it  was  on  account  of 
this  power  and  knowledge,  as  we  believe,  that  Christ  used  the 
plural  "keys."  For  this  reason  the  Master  of  Sentences,  12  : 
18,  cap.  2  [Migne's  ed.,  p.  375],  says:  "He  speaks  in  the 
plural  '  keys,'  for  one  is  not  sufOicient.  These  keys  are  the 
wisdom  of  discernment  and  the  power  of  judging,  whereby 
the  ecclesiastical  judge  is  bound  to  receive  the  worthy  and  ex- 
clude the  unworthy  from  the  kingdom."  And  it  is  to  be 
noted,  that  to  the  Trinity  alone  does  it  belong  to  have  the 
chief  power  of  this  kind.  And  the  humanity  of  Christ  alone 
has  chief  subordinate  power  from  within  himself,  for  Christ 
is  at  the  same  time  God  and  man.  Nevertheless,  prelates  of 
the  church  have  committed  unto  them  instrumental  or  min- 
isterial power,  which  is  a  judicial  power,  consisting  chiefly 
of  two  things,  namely,  the  power  of  knowing  how  to  dis- 
criminate, and  the  power  of  judging  judicially.  The  former 
of  these  is  called  in  the  court  of  penance  the  key  of  the  con- 
science, reasonably  disposing  the  mind  to  the  exercise  of  the 
second  function,  that  is,  the  judicial;    for  no  one  legally  has 


/ 


96  THE   CHURCH 

the  power  of  pronouncing  a  definite  sentence  unless  he  has 
the  prior  power  of  discerning  in  a  case  in  which  he  is  called 
upon  to  discriminate  and  pronounce  sentence. 

The  first  key,  therefore,  is  neither  an  act  nor  a  state  of 
knowledge,  but  the  power  of  antecedent  discernment.  Con- 
sequently, all  the  power  of  the  sacerdotal  order,  namely,  of 
being  the  instrument  in  opening  to  man  the  gate,  which  is 
Christ,  or  of  shutting  to  an  inferior  the  said  kingdom,  is  the 
key  of  the  church  given  to  Peter  and  to  others,  as  appears  from 
the  Saviour's  words:  ''Verily  I  say  unto  you  whatsoever  ye 
bind  on  earth,  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever  ye 
shall  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven,"  Matt.  i8  :  i8. 
He  also  said:  " Receive  ye  the  Holy  Spirit.  Whosesoever  sins 
ye  forgive  they  are  forgiven  unto  them ;  and  whosesoever  sins 
ye  retain  they  are  retained,"  John  20  :  22.  To  Peter  and  the 
church  in  him  were  the  words  spoken:  "Whatsoever  thou 
shalt  loose  on  earth,"  etc..  Matt.  16  :  19. 

These  words,  because  of  a  defect  in  their  understanding, 
frighten  many  Christians  so  that  they  are  filled  with  servile 
fear,  while  others  are  deceived  by  them  and  presume  because 
of  the  fulness  of  power  [they  are  supposed  to  convey].  There- 
fore, the  following  things  are  to  be  laid  down:  (i)  That  the 
Saviour's  dictum  about  the  virtue  of  the  words  is  necessary, 
because  it  is  not  possible  for  a  priest  to  loose  or  bind  anything, 
unless  such  loosing  and  binding  take  place  in  heaven,  not 
only  in  the  heavenly  realm  which  also  comprises  the  sublu- 
nary world  and  all  things  which  are  therein,  but  also  take 
place  with  the  divine  approval  and  the  approval  of  angelic 
beings  which  are  heavenly.  Hence,  it  is  to  be  noted,  that 
guilt  inheres  in  the  soul  of  him  who  sins  mortally  and  grace 
is  corrupted  or  ceases  to  be,  for  which  reason  he  who  sins  mor- 
tally is  under  the  debt  of  eternal  damnation,  provided  he 
does  not  do  penance,  and,  if  he  persists  in  this  guilt,  he  is 
separated  from  the  companionship  of  pilgrims  in  grace.  But 
in  penance  there  is  a  remedy,  by  which  guilt  is  deleted,  grace 


POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING  97 

conferred,  the  chain  of  damnation  broken,  and  man  reunited 
with  the  church.  This  penance  is  performed  by  contrition, 
confession  and  satisfaction.^  Contrition,  which  is  sorrow  or 
full  pain  for  sin  committed,  must  include  displeasure  with  the 
sin  already  committed,  and  the  sin  which  may  be  committed 
and,  in  the  case — articulo — of  necessity,  such  contrition  is 
enough  for  salvation.  Hence  the  Saviour,  knowing  that  the 
mind  of  the  adulteress  was  full  of  sorrow,  added  the  words: 
**Go  and  sin  no  more,"  John  8  :  11.  For  this  reason  St. 
Augustine,  St.  Ambrose  and  St.  Gregory  agree  in  saying 
that  to  be  penitent  is  to  lament  evils  done  and  not  to  wish 
to  do  evils  that  are  to  be  lamented. 

Secondly,  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  for  the  justification  of 
the  wicked  man  there  is  needed  infinite  power  by  which 
God  cleanses  from  spot  and  stain  and  grants  grace.  Again, 
God's  mercy  is  needed  whereby  he  relaxes  the  offense  done 
his  Majesty,  and  the  eternal  punishment  for  the  debt  which 
would  follow  if  he  did  not  do  penance.  Therefore,  the  church 
often  prays,  "Almighty  and  most  merciful  God,"  urging  the 
infinite  power  and  mercy  of  God.  But  that  infinite  power 
is  required  for  the  justification  of  a  wicked  man  is  evident 
because,  as  Augustine  says,  ''it  is  easier  to  create  a  world 
than  to  justify  the  wicked;  the  first  demands  infinite  power 
and  consequently  also  the  second  [act],  and  this  is  the  reason 
why,  in  the  justification  of  the  wicked,  the  active  bestowal 

1  Penance  is  treated  by  Thomas  Aquinas  as  a  restoration  to  health.  This 
sacrament  is  the  second  plank  thrown  out  for  the  sinner,  as  baptism  is  the  first. 
After  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  the  four  elements  were  considered  neces- 
sary parts  of  penance:  contrition,  confession  to  the  priest,  satisfaction,  and 
absolution.  Peter  the  Lombard  still  taught  that  confession  to  God  was  suffi- 
cient for  forgiveness.  Alexander  of  Hales,  d.  1245,  made  confession  to  the 
priest  essential,  and  he  was  followed  by  Thomas  Aquinas.  Absolution,  which 
from  1200  on  has  been  regarded  in  the  Catholic  church  as  a  judicial  act,  was 
treated  by  Peter  the  Lombard  as  a  declarative  act,  and  the  petitionary  form 
was  still  common  in  his  day.  Schwane,  Dogmengesch.  d.  m.  Z.,  p.  670,  pro- 
nounces it  the  most  important  part  of  the  sacrament  of  penance.  In  his  Com. 
on  the  Lombard,  p.  598  sqq.,  Huss  takes  a  moderate  view,  and  on  the  basis  of 
the  cases  of  the  penitent  thief  and  publican,  leans  toward  the  opinion  that  con- 
trition of  heart  and  confession  to  God  are  sufficient. 


98  THE   CHURCH 

of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  required,  which  cannot  be  secured  ex- 
cept from  God,"  as  Augustine  proves  in  many  places,  as  I 
have  shown  in  my  Tract  on  Indulgences.  And  the  Master 
of  Sentences,  i  :  14  [Migne's  ed.,  p.  49],  concludes  from  these 
words  of  Augustine  and  says,  "Therefore  no  men,  however 
holy,  can  give  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and  the  same  reasoning 
applies  to  the  active  remission  of  sins.^ 

Hence  in  a  unique  sense  the  Baptist  said  of  Christ:  ''Be- 
hold the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world," 
John  I  :  29.  On  these  words  Augustine  says,  Hom.  on  John, 
4  [Nic.  Fathers,  7  :  28]:  "Let  no  one  presume  and  say  of  him- 
self that  he  takes  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  Now,  observe 
the  proud  against  whom  John  lifted  his  finger  were  not  yet 
heretics  and  yet  they  were  already  shown  to  be  such  against 
whom  he  cried  from  the  river."  Wherefore  the  Jews  often 
ascribed  blasphemy  to  Christ  because,  esteeming  him,  though 
falsely,  to  be  a  mere  man,  they  said  he  was  not  able  of  him- 
self to  forgive  sins,  because  sin  is  not  forgiven  by  a  mere 
word  except  only  as  the  offense  against  God  is  relaxed.  But 
who  forgives  an  injury  except  the  person  against  whom  it  is 
done  or  against  whose  subject  it  is  done?  For  God,  in  giv- 
ing power  of  this  kind,  first  forgives  the  injury  against  Him- 
self before  His  vicar  can  forgive.  Hence  on  this  point  Am- 
brose says:  "He  alone  forgives  sins  who  alone  died  for  us. 
The  Word  of  God  forgives  sins.  The  priest  is  the  judge. 
The  priest  performs  his  function  and  does  not  exercise  the 

^The  Treatises  on  Papal  Indulgences,  Mon.,  i  :  215-237,  was  called  forth 
by  John  XXIII's  two  bulls,  calling  for  a  crusade  against  Ladislaus,  king  of 
Naples,  1412,  and  promising  liberal  indulgence  for  participation  in  the  cam- 
paign. The  bulls  created  a  great  sensation  in  Prague,  where  the  billets  of  par- 
don were  openly  sold  at  three  different  places.  Huss  attacked  the  whole  system 
of  wars  against  fellow  Christians  started  at  the  pope's  instance,  and  entered 
into  the  question  of  papal  and  priestly  absolution.  He  declared  that  if  the 
pope  had  the  right  to  give  indulgences,  he  was  a  criminal  if  he  did  not  empty 
purgatory.  He  took  up  the  same  position  as  here  that  the  priest  cannot  ab- 
solve whom  God  has  not  before  absolved,  and  that  the  priest's  power  is  essen- 
tially the  same  as  the  priest's  power  under  the  O.  T.  in  pronouncing  a  leper 
clean.     See  Huss,  Super  IV.  Sent.,  606  sqq.,  and  Introd.  to  this  volume. 


POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING  99 

way^  of  any  power,"  de  Penitentia,  i  [Friedberg,  i  :  11 70]. 
To  the  same  purport  speaks  Jerome,  whom  the  Master  of 
Sentences  quotes  (see  above),  and  Gregory,  1:1,  Paulus. 
The  same  holds  good  for  the  retention  and  binding  of  sins. 
Hence  the  Master  of  Sentences,  4  :  18,  4  [Migne,  p.  376],  ad- 
ducing these  authorities  and  reasons,  concludes,  that  "God 
alone  washes  a  man  within  clean  from  the  stain  of  sin  and 
from  the  debt  of  eternal  punishment,"  and  he  closes  thus: 
"By  these  and  many  other  testimonies  it  is  taught  that  God 
alone  and  of  Himself  forgives  sins;  and  just  as  He  forgives 
some  so  He  retains  the  sins  of  others." 

But  some  one  will  say,  if  God  alone  can  forgive  and  re- 
tain sins,  why  did  He  say  to  the  apostles  and  their  vicars: 
"Whatsoever  ye  shall  loose,"  etc.,  .  .  .  and  "whosesoever  sins 
ye  retain,"  etc.?  What,  therefore,  is  it  for  a  priest  to  loose  or 
bind  sins,  to  remit  or  retain?  To  the  first  the  Master  of 
Sentences  (see  above)  gives  answer  and  says:  "Priests  also 
bind  when  they  impose  the  satisfaction  of  penance  upon 
those  who  confess.  They  loose  when  in  view  of  the  satis- 
faction they  forgive  anything  or  admit  those  purged  by  it 
to  participation  in  the  sacraments."  To  the  second  Richard 
answers  well  in  his  Power  of  Loosing  and  Binding  [Migne, 
196  :  116455'.],  when  he  says:^  "What  is  it  to  remit  sins 
except  to  relax  the  sentence  of  punishment  which  is  due  for 
sins,  and  by  relaxing  to  absolve  ?  And  what  is  it  to  retain  sins 
but  not  to  absolve  those  not  truly  penitent?  For  many  of 
those  who  confess  seek  absolution  who  nevertheless  do  not 


*  Viam.    The  Decretum  has  jura,  rights. 

2  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  d.  1173,  was  born  in  Scotland,  and  was  the  pupil  of 
Hugo  of  St.  Victor.  Both  were  mystics,  but  their  mysticism  differed  from  that 
of  St.  Bernard  by  being  developed  into  a  scientific  system  and  brought  within 
the  limits  of  careful  definition.  In  addition  to  the  book  above  quoted,  Richard 
wrote  commentaries  on  the  Canticles,  the  Apocalypse,  etc.,  Emmanuel,  a  treatise 
directed  to  the  Jews,  Preparation  of  the  Mind  for  Contemplation,  etc.  While 
he  was  prior  of  St.  Victor,  Alexander  III  and  Thomas  a  Becket  visited  the 
convent.  It  was  located  within  the  present  bounds  of  Paris,  and  its  buildings 
were  destroyed  during  the  French  Revolution. 


loo  THE  CHURCH 

want  to  wholly  abandon  their  sins.  Many  promise  caution 
for  the  future  but  do  not  want  to  make  satisfaction.  All  of 
this  sort,  in  so  far  as  they  do  not  truly  repent,  beyond  doubt 
ought  not  to  be  forgiven.  For  truly  to  repent  is  to  be  sorry 
for  past  wrong-doing,  to  confess  with  a  strong  purpose,  to 
make  satisfaction,  and  to  take  heed  to  oneself  with  all  cau- 
tion. Those  who  do  penance  in  this  way,  they  ought  to  be 
forgiven;  and  to  be  remitted  in  any  other  way  without  ab- 
solution, this  is  to  retain  sins.  Now,  from  the  things  already 
said  we  may  clearly  understand  that,  in  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  the  Lord  does  by  and  of  Himself  what  is  done  through 
his  minister,  that  is,  he  does  not  by  Himself  and  through  the 
office  of  ministers,  but  He  fully  of  Himself  looses  the  bond 
of  obduracy;  and  He  looses  by  Himself  and  His  minister 
the  debt  of  eternal  damnation;  truly  He  looses  by  his  min- 
isters the  debt  of  future  purgation.  The  power  of  the  first 
kind  of  forgiveness  He  reserves  for  Himself  alone.  The 
second  kind  of  forgiveness  He  imparts  by  Himself  and  His 
minister.  But  the  third  kind,  the  Lord  is  accustomed  to 
impart  not  as  much  by  Himself  as  by  his  minister.  Properly, 
indeed,  is  it  said  that  the  Lord  absolves  the  truly  penitent 
from  the  bond  of  damnation.  None  the  less  it  is  true  that 
the  priest  does  this  and  the  Lord,  ^  the  Lord  in  view  of 
the  conversion  of  the  heart,  and  the  priest  in  view  of  the 
confession  of  the  mouth.  For  the  confession  of  the  heart 
alone  suffices  in  the  case  of  the  truly  penitent  unto  salva- 
tion. And  the  case — articuliis — of  necessity  excludes  both 
the  confession  of  the  mouth  and  absolution  by  the  priest." 
Thus  much  Richard. 

From  these  things  the  conclusion  is  drawn  that  God  pre- 
destinates from  eternity,  and  He  executes  in  time  the  abso- 
lution of  a  person  who  is  to  be  saved  and  the  remission  of 
his  sin,  before  such  a  person  is  absolved  on  earth  by  the  min- 

^The  expression,  "and  the  Lord"  is  not  in  Richard's  text.  Otherwise 
Huss's  quotation  is  exact. 


IJI.JJJJI  0 


POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING        loi 

ister  of  the  church.  Again  the  minister  of  the  church,  the 
vicar  of  Christ,  is  not  able  to  absolve  or  to  bind,  to  for- 
give sins  or  to  retain  them,  unless  God  has  done  this  pre- 
viously. This  appears  from  John  15  :  5:  "Apart  from  me 
ye  can  do  nothing."  That  vessel  of  election  knew  this,  and 
so  he  said:  "Not  that  we  are  sufficient  of  ourselves  to  ac- 
count anything  as  from  ourselves,  but  our  sufficiency  is  from 
God,"  II  Cor.  3  :  5.  Therefore,  if  we  are  not  sufficient  to 
think  except  as  God  imparts  the  thought,  how  are  we  suf- 
ficient to  bind  and  loose  except  God  have  previously  loosed 
and  bound?  And  this  the  philosophers  recognize  when  they 
say  that  a  second  cause  can  effect  nothing  without  the 
coagency  of  a  first  cause. 

Further,  it  is  clear  that  no  man  may  be  loosed  from  sin 
or  receive  the  remission  of  sins,  unless  God  have  loosed  him  or 
given  him  remission.  Hence  the  Baptist  says:  "A  man  can 
receive  nothing  except  it  first  be  given  him  from  heaven,"  John 
3:27.  Hence  as  an  earthly  lord  first  forgives  in  spirit  the  sin 
committed  against  himself,  before  this  is  announced  by  him- 
self or  by  another,  so  it  is  necessary  for  God  to  do.  Therefore, 
the  presbyters  are  wildly  beside  themselves  who  think  and  say 
that  they  may  of  their  own  initiative  loose  and  bind,  without 
the  absolution  or  binding  of  Jesus  Christ  preceding  their  act. 
For  loosing  and  binding  are  in  the  first  instance  the  simple 
[absolute]  act  of  God.  Therefore,  the  Gospel  says,  "Whatso- 
ever is  bound  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,"  but  it  does 
not  say  that  it  is  bound  in  heaven  at  a  later  time  and  not 
previously. 

Hence,  the  ignorant  think  that  the  priest  binds  and  looses 
in  time  first  and  after  him  God.  It  is  folly  to  have  this 
opinion.  But  the  logicians  know  well  that  priority  is  two- 
fold :  the  one,  priority  of  origin,  taken  from  the  material  cause, 
and  the  other  the  priority  of  dignity,  taken  from  the  final 
cause.  And  these  two  priorities  meet  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  and  in  this  way  the  binding  and  loosing  of  the  church 


I02  THE  CHURCH 

militant  is  in  a  sense  prior  to  the  binding  and  loosing  of  the 
church  triumphant  and  vice  versa. 

But  God's  act  of  binding  or  loosing  is  absolutely  first. 
And  it  is  evident,  it  would  be  blasphemy  to  assert  that  a 
man  may  remit  an  offense  done  to  so  great  a  Lord,  with  the 
Lord  himself  approving  the  remission.  For  by  the  universal 
law  and  practice  followed  by  the  Lord,  He  himself  must 
loose  or  bind  first,  if  any  vicar  looses  or  binds.  And  for  us 
no  article  of  the  faith  ought  to  be  more  certain  than  the 
impossibility  of  any  one  of  the  church  militant  to  absolve  or 
bind  except  in  so  far  as  he  is  conformed  to  the  head  of  the 
church,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Hence,  the  faithful  should  be  on  his  guard  against  this 
form  of  statement:  "If  the  pope  or  any  other  pretends  that 
he  binds  or  looses  by  a  particular  sign,  then  by  that  very 
fact  the  offender  is  loosed  or  bound."  For  by  conceding 
this,  they  have  to  concede  that  the  pope  is  impeccable  as  is 
God,  for  otherwise  he  is  able  to  err  and  to  misuse  the  key  of 
Christ.  And  it  is  certain  that  as  impossible  as  it  is  for  the 
figure  of  a  material  key  to  open  anything  when  the  substance 
is  wanting,  so  impossible  is  it  for  Christ's  vicar  to  open  or 
shut  except  as  he  conforms  himself  to  the  key  of  Christ 
which  first  opens  and  shuts.  For  just  as  Christ  the  first- 
born of  many  brethren  and  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  sleep 
was  the  first  to  enter  the  kingdom,  so  he  alone  and  above 
all  could  have  had  committed  to  him  the  spiritual  kingdom^ 
which  was  altogether  closed  from  the  time  our  first  parents 
lied  until  he  himself  came.  And  the  same  is  to  be  said  in 
regard  to  any  opening  or  closing  whatever  which  pertains 
to  the  heavenly  country.  And  it  is  plain  that  every  vicar 
of  Christ,  so  long  as  he  continues  to  walk  in  this  world,  may 
err,  even  in  those  things  which  concern  the  faith  and  the 

'  The  kingdom  of  bliss  to  which  the  worthies  of  the  Old  Testament  dispen- 
sation were  not  admitted  till  they  were  released  from  the  limbus  patrum  dur- 
ing the  three  days  after  Christ's  crucifixion. 


POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING        103 

keys  of  the  church  as  those  knew  who  wrote  the  Chronicles  ;  ^ 
for  Peter  himself,  Christ's  j&rst  vicar,  sinned  in  these  regards. 

Likewise,  God  is  the  only  being  who  cannot  be  ignorant 
as  to  whose  sins  may  be  remitted,  and  He  the  only  being  who 
cannot  be  moved  by  a  wrong  motive  and  judge  unjust  judg- 
ment. But  any  vicar  may  be  ignorant  as  to  whose  sins  ought 
to  be  remitted,  and  he  may  be  moved  by  a  wrong  motive  in 
binding  or  loosing.  Therefore,  if  he  refuse  to  impart  absolu- 
tion to  one  truly  penitent  and  confessing,  moved  by  anger  or 
greed,  he  cannot  by  his  act  bind  such  a  person  in  guilt.  Sim- 
ilar would  be  the  case  with  one  who  came  with  a  lying  con- 
fession, as  happens  very  often,  and  the  priest,  not  knowing 
his  hypocrisy,  should  impart  to  him  the  words  of  absolution. 
Undoubtedly  he  does  not  thereby  absolve,  for  the  Scriptures 
say.  Wisdom  [of  Solomon]  1:4:  "The  Holy  Spirit  evades 
a  feigned  act  of  worship."  In  the  first  case,  just  noted,  the 
vicar  alleges  that  he  bound  or  forgave  sins  and  did  not;  and 
in  the  second  case  he  alleges  that  he  loosed  or  remitted  sins  and 
did  not.  And  it  is  evident  how  great  the  illusion  may  be  of 
those  who  administer  the  keys  and  of  those  who  do  not  truly 
repent.  For  it  is  necessary  that  a  person,  wishing  to  be  ab- 
solved, be  first  so  disposed  in  his  will  that  he  is  sorry  for  his 
guilt,  and  then  have  the  purpose  to  sin  no  more.  Hence, 
all  priests  combined — who  are  at  the  same  time  vicars — are 
not  able  to  absolve  from  sins  him  who  wishes  to  go  on  sin- 
ning and  who  does  not  wish  to  lament  his  sins. 

So  all  together  are  not  able  to  bind  a  righteous  man  or 
retain  his  sins  when  he  humbles  himself  with  his  whole  heart 
and  has  a  contrite  heart,  a  thing  which  God  does  not  despise. 
Wherefore  St.  Jerome,  commenting  on  Matt.  16  :  19  [Migne's 
ed.,  26  :  118],  "I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth 
shall  be  loosed  in  heaven,"  etc.,  says:    "Some  not  under- 

'The  histories  of  the  church  of  Ranulph  Higden,  Martinus  Polonus,  etc., 
mentioned  by  name  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 


104  THE  CHURCH 

standing  this  passage  appropriate  something  of  the  arrogance 
of  the  Pharisees  so  as  to  think  that  they  can  damn  the  guilt- 
less and  loose  offenders,  for  with  God  not  the  judgment  of 
priests  is  sought  but  the  life  of  the  guilty."^  To  these  words 
the  Master  of  Sentences,  4  :  18,  cap.  6,  adds  [Migne's  ed., 
p.  375]:  "Here  it  is  plainly  shown,  that  God  does  not  follow 
the  sentence  of  the  church  which  judges  in  ignorance  and 
deceitfully."  He  also  adds,  cap.  8:  "Sometimes  he  who  is 
sent  outdoors,  that  is,  outside  of  holy  church,  by  the  priest, 
is,  nevertheless,  inside.  And  he  who,  by  virtue  of  the  truth, 
is  outside,  seems  to  be  kept  inside  by  the  priest's  false  sen- 
tence." And  again  he  says,  4  :  19,  cap.  4  [Migne,  p.  382]: 
That  the  priest  who  binds  and  looses  others  ought  himself 
to  be  prudent  and  just,  for  otherwise  he  will  put  to  death 
souls  who  do  not  die  and  revive  souls  which  do  not  live,  and 
in  this  way  he  turns  his  power  of  pronouncing  judgment  into 
an  instrument  of  cursing — so  that  it  is  said  in  Mai.  2:2: 
"I  will  bless  your  cursings  and  curse  your  blessings."  There- 
fore the  vicars  of  Christ  ought  to  take  heed  that  they  do 
not  lightly  presume  to  bind  or  loose  whenever  it  pleases 
them. 

But  the  objection  is  offered  concerning  higher  rank  and 
obedience  from  the  Canon  Solita  [Friedberg,  2  :  196-199], 
where  Pope  Innocent  [III]  says:  "The  Lord  said  to  Peter, 
and  in  Peter  to  his  successors,  'Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind 
on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,'  making  no  exception 
when  he  said,  'Whatsoever,'  etc."  Here  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  in  virtue  of  the  words,  "Whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose," 
Peter  could  not  loosen  the  Scriptures,  for  Christ  our  Saviour 
said:     "The   Scripture   cannot   be   broken,"   John    10  :  35. 

*  Jerome  adds  that,  according  to  Lev.  14,  the  lepers  were  commanded  to 
show  themselves  to  the  priest  and,  if  they  had  leprosy,  they  became  unclean 
by  the  priest — a  sacerdote  immundi  fiant — "not  that  the  priests  made  them 
leprous  and  unclean,  but  that  the  leprous  and  those  who  were  not  might  have 
the  knowledge  of  their  condition."  For  Huss's  treatment  of  the  power  of  the 
keys  as  set  forth  in  his  Com.  on  Peter  the  Lombard,  see  Introduction  to  this 
volume. 


POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING        105 

Nor,  secondly,  could  he  loose  one  who  would  not  repent,  and 
so  he  said  to  Simon  Magus:  "Repent,  therefore,  of  this 
thy  wickedness  and  pray  the  Lord  if  perhaps  it  may  be  for- 
given you,"  Acts  8  :  22.  Thirdly,  Peter  had  no  power  to 
loose  the  marriage  bond,  for  the  Saviour  said:  "What  God 
hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put  asunder,"  Matt.  19  :  6. 
And  fourthly,  he  was  not  able  to  absolve  Judas  from  sin, 
because  the  Saviour  said:  "  Not  one  of  them  perished  but  the 
son  of  perdition,  that  the  Scripture  might  be  fulfilled," 
John  17  :  12. 

Therefore,  if  Peter  in  virtue  of  that  saying  of  Christ, 
"Whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in 
heaven,"  had  presumed  to  have  power  to  loose  in  any  of 
the  four  cases  just  adduced,  would  they  have  been  loosed 
in  heaven?  Certainly  not!  For  the  will  of  God  would  have 
opposed  it  in  the  case  of  the  Scriptures,  marriage,  Judas, 
and  in  the  case  of  the  one  refusing  in  his  pertinacity  to  re- 
pent. Therefore,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  vicar,  who 
thinks  that  he  is  able  to  loose  or  to  bind  whomsoever  he 
chooses,  really  does  it.  On  this  point,  St.  Augustine,  de 
vera  et  falsa  Penitentia,^  speaks,  when  he  says:  "God,  who 
had  already  raised  up  Lazarus  from  the  grave,  offered  Laza- 
rus to  the  disciples  that  they  might  loose  him,^  thereby  show- 
ing the  power  of  loosing  imparted  to  priests:  and  God  said, 
'Whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven,' 
that  is,  I,  God,  and  all  the  ranks  of  the  heavenly  army  and 
all  the  saints  who  give  praise  in  that  heavenly  glory  join 
with  you  in  confirming  those  whom  ye  bind  and  loose.  He  did 
not  say,  'whom  ye  think  ye  bind  and  loose,  but  those  to- 
wards whom  ye  exercise  works  of  righteousness  or  mercy. 
But  your  other  works  done  towards  sinners  I  do  not  recog- 

^  Migne,  40  :  1122.  The  work  is  printed  in  the  Appendix  of  Augustine's 
Works.  It  is  quoted  by  Gratian  and  Peter  the  Lombard  as  Augustine's.  That 
the  work  was  not  from  Augustine's  hand,  Erasmus  showed. 

*  "Jesus  said  unto  them,  loose  him  and  let  him  go,"  John  11  :  44.  Richard 
of  St.  Victor  also  uses  Lazarus,  Migne,  196  :  1166. 


io6  THE   CHURCH 

nize/"  Thus  much  Augustine,  who  Ihnits  the  clergy's  power 
to  loose  or  bind  as  it  stands  in  their  own  estimation. 

To  the  same  purport  are  the  words  of  Richard,  de  potest, 
ligandi  et  solvendi  [Migne,  196  :  1167].  He  says:  "So  far  thou 
goest  and  sayest :  if  I  am  not  able  to  bind  or  absolve  anything 
or  to  retain  and  remit  the  sins  of  all  persons  whatsoever,  what 
does  that  mean,  which  was  said  in  a  general  way  unto  Peter : 
'  Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind,  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose '  ? 
Just  as  it  was  also  laid  down  as  a  general  rule  spoken  to  the 
apostles  in  common:  'Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  re- 
mitted unto  them ;  and  whosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  re- 
tained.' Properly  should  this  question  move  you  had  the  Lord 
said  to  Peter,  'Whatsoever  thou  shalt  wish  to  bind  shall  be 
bound,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  wish  to  loose  shall  be  loosed,' 
but  he  did  not  say  this  nor  did  he  wish  to  be  understood  in 
this  way — namely,  if  any  one  shall  wish  to  bind  what  he  is  not 
able  to  bind,  shall  that  sin,  therefore,  be  bound  ?  Who  said 
this?  Therefore,  he  did  not  say,  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
wish  to  bind,  but  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind,  shall  be  bound 
in  heaven.  He  verily  is  bound  who  is  bound  by  the  just 
debt  of  satisfaction  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  his  con- 
fession. That  person  is  really  absolved  by  the  sacerdotal 
office  whose  sin  is  justly  remitted  in  view  of  a  deserved  sat- 
isfaction. God,  therefore,  binds  and  absolves  those  who  by 
a  priest's  sentence  justly  deserve  absolution,^  but,  beyond  any 
doubt,  the  sins  of  those  are  retained  to  whom  the  absolution 
of  sins  has  been  justly  denied  and  not  those  to  whom  it  has 
been  unjustly  denied. 

"What  the  Lord,  therefore,  said  to  Peter  means  the  same 
as  if  he  had  said  in  other  words:  'What  has  been  bound  or 
loosed  by  thee,  shall  be  bound  or  loosed  with  me.  He  who 
is  held  with  thee  by  the  command  of  a  required  satisfaction 
is  held  with  me  as  a  debtor  owing  the  same  satisfaction. 
And  because^  he  deserved  from  thee  the  just  absolution  for 

^  An  important  clause  is  here  omitted  from  Richard's  treatise. 
^  Quia.    Richard  has  qui. 


POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING        107 

his  sins  he  shall  not  at  my  bar  be  held  bound  any  further.' 
After  this  manner  we  should  also  understand  that  which 
Christ  said  to  all  his  apostles:  'Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit, 
they  shall  be  remitted  unto  them,  and  whosesoever  sins  ye  re- 
tain, they  are  retained. '  Assuredly  the  sins  of  offenders  will 
be  remitted  or  retained  with  the  Lord  which  have  been  prop- 
erly remitted  or  retained  by  his  ministers,  the  priests — both  of 
which  are  truly  and  really  done  by  them  when  done  in  accord 
with  the  canonical  rite;  nevertheless,  neither  of  these  things 
can  priests  do  at  their  personal  pleasure,  but  only  for  desert 
— merito — and  according  to  the  rite  as  instituted."  Thus 
much  Richard. 

From  Augustine  and  from  this  declaration  by  Richard, 
it  is  plain  that  it  does  not  follow:  Christ  said  to  Peter  or 
to  any  vicar  of  his:  "Whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth," 
that  is,  in  the  church  militant,  "shall  be  loosed  also  in  heaven," 
that  is,  in  the  church  triumphant — therefore,  whatsoever  thou 
shalt  wish  to  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  also  in  heaven. 
And  it  is  evident  that  by  this  clause  the  bestowment  falls  on 
every  person  that  is  truly  penitent.  And  also,  in  view  of  the 
words,  "Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind,"  the  bestowment  falls 
upon  the  impenitent,  for  the  loosing  applies  to  every  truly 
penitent  person,  the  binding  to  the  impenitent.  The  same  is 
true  of  retaining  and  remitting. 

Therefore,  Christ's  disciple  ought  to  be  on  his  guard 
against  the  fallacy  of  antichrist,  when  the  following  course 
of  argument  is  pursued:  Whatsoever  Christ's  vicar  shall  bind 
upon  earth  shall  be  bound,  also  in  heaven,  but  this  faithful 
layman  who  does  not  wish  to  give  money  for  his  absolution, 
him  he  binds  on  earth.  Therefore,  this  layman  is  bound  in 
heaven.  Likewise,  whatsoever  Christ's  vicar  shall  loose  on 
earth  shall  be  loosed  also  in  heaven,  but  him  who  is  not 
contrite  and  yet  is  willing  to  give  money,  him  he  looses  on 
earth.  Therefore,  is  he  loosed  also  in  heaven.  The  case  is 
similar  if  it  be  argued:   Whatsoever  Christ's  vicar  looses  on 


io8  THE   CHURCH 

earth  shall  be  loosed  also  in  heaven,  but  him,  who  is  evi- 
dently a  reprobate,  he  looses  on  earth  in  the  agony  of  death, 
therefore  he  is  loosed  also  in  heaven.  In  these  arguments 
the  minor  premise  is  wanting  in  strength;  for  unless  the  said 
man,  in  the  case  of  the  minor  premise,  binds  himself  by  a 
bad  will  or  looses  himself  by  true  contrition,  the  minor  prem- 
ise is  false.  And,  according  to  Richard,  the  argument  is 
to  be  rectified  in  this  way:  "Whatsoever  Christ's  vicar  shall 
properly  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  also  in  heaven.  But 
this  faithful  layman  who  does  not  wish  to  give  money,  him 
he  binds  properly  on  earth."  Thus  the  falsehood  of  the 
minor  premise  is  made  to  appear.  In  a  similar  way  the 
other  arguments  are  to  be  corrected.  And,  if  the  objection 
be  raised  that  a  Christian  ought  to  be  in  doubt  as  to  when 
a  priest  binds  and  looses  according  to  the  rite  and  when  not, 
the  reply  is  to  be  made  that  the  opposite  follows  [we  should 
not  be  in  doubt],  since  we  ought  to  believe  that  the  priest 
binds  and  absolves  only  in  cases  when  he  ministers  according 
to  the  rules  of  Christ's  law.  And  when  he  exceeds  that  law, 
then  he  alleges  that  he  is  binding  and  loosing,  but  does  not 
bind  and  loose. 

Then  as  to  Innocent's  words:  "The  Lord  made  no  ex- 
ception when  he  said  to  Peter:  'Whatsoever,'  etc."  If  Inno- 
cent understands  a  bestowment  in  any  case  whatsoever,  when 
Peter  or  his  vicar  might  allege  they  were  binding,  then  Inno- 
cent's meaning  would  be  false.  For  then,  through  a  subordi- 
nate assumption,  an  improper  conclusion  would  follow,  the 
argument  running  thus:  whatsoever  Peter  or  his  vicar  shall 
bind  on  earth,  shall  be  bound  in  heaven.  But  this  holy  man 
he  alleges  he  is  binding  on  earth:  therefore  he  is  bound  in 
heaven.  The  conclusion  is  false  and  impossible.  The  minor 
proposition  is  true  or  may  be  true.  Therefore  the  application 
of  Innocent's  major  proposition  would  be  false.  But,  if  Inno- 
cent means  with  Richard,  Augustine,  and  Gregory  that  the 
bestowment  is  for  that  for  which  binding  and  loosing  are  in- 


POWER  OF  BINDING  AND  LOOSING        109 

tended  then  it  is  true  that  when  the  Lord  said,  "whatsoever," 
he  made  no  exception.  For  it  means  this:  Whatsoever  that 
is  of  true  penitence  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed 
in  heaven.  Likewise,  whatsoever  that  is  of  impenitence  thou 
shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  also  in  heaven.  And  with 
this  the  Little  Glosses^  of  the  Decretists  agree,  which  say  that, 
when  the  key  does  not  make  a  mistake,  and  consequently  when 
a  righteous  thing  is  done  on  earth,  it  shall  be  confirmed  in 
heaven. 

For  every  man  who,  being  penitent,  is  according  to  the 
rite  loosed  on  earth  by  Christ's  vicar  on  the  earth,  he  also 
is  loosed  in  heaven — just  as  he  who  has  believed  and  is  bap- 
tized shall  be  saved,  and  he  who  has  believed  in  love  shall 
be  saved  finally.  For  "believe"  here  is  to  be  accepted  as 
in  John  3  :  36,  "He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  eternal 
life,"  and  if  it  shall  be  argued  that  whosoever  believeth  on 
the  Son  hath  eternal  life:  every  Christian  believes  on  the 
Son  of  God,  therefore  every  Christian  hath  eternal  life — or, 
again,  if  it  be  argued  that  whosoever  believeth  on  the  Son  of 
God  hath  eternal  life  but  that  reprobate,  who  is  in  grace,  be- 
Heves  on  the  Son  of  God,  therefore  that  reprobate  has  eternal 
life — in  these  cases  the  conclusion  is  false.  And  both  these 
conclusions  are  invalid,  because  "to  believe"  is  one  thing  in 
the  major  premise  and  another  thing  in  the  minor.  Hence, 
in  order  to  correct  the  statement  the  argument  must  run 
in  this  way:  Whosoever  believes  with  love  in  the  Son  of 
God  and  perseveres.  In  this  case  the  consequence  is  good 
[he  shall  be  finally  saved].  But  the  minor  statement  the 
objector  should  prove  [namely,  that  every  Christian  beHeves 
with  love  of  God].  Similar  is  the  case  with  the  second  con- 
clusion and  its  minor  premise:  namely,  "  that  reprobate  who 
is  in  grace  believes  with  love  in  the  Son  of  God  and  perse- 
veres."    This  reasoning  is  false. 

From  the  things  already  said,  it  is  clear  what  the  power 

'  See  Introduction. 


no  THE  CHURCH 

of  the  keys  is  and  what  is  catholic  belief  on  the  subject, 
namely,  that  every  priest  of  Christ  ordained  according  to 
the  rite  has  the  sufficient  power  to  confer  the  sacraments  ap- 
pertaining to  him  and  consequently  to  absolve  a  person  truly 
contrite  from  sin,  howbeit  power  of  this  kind,  so  far  as  the 
exercise  of  it  goes,  is  for  good  reasons  bound  in  the  case  of 
many  persons,  as  appears  near  the  beginning  of  this  chapter. 
But  how  this  power  belonged  to  the  apostles  equally  is  stated 
in  the  Decretum,  Dist.  21,  in  novo  [Friedberg,  i  :  69],  where 
it  is  said:^  "The  other  apostles  with  him,  that  is,  Peter,  by 
reason  of  equal  fellowship  received  honor  and  power.  .  .  . 
When  these  died,  the  bishops  arose  in  their  place."  And 
here  the  Gloss,  Argumentum,  says  that  the  bishops  are  all 
equal  in  apostolic  power,  so  far  as  the  order  and  ground  of 
consecration  go.  St.  Cyprian,  24  :  i,  cap.  Loquitur  [Fried- 
berg, I  :  971],  says:  "He  gave  to  all  the  apostles  after  his 
resurrection  equal  power." 

Hence  it  would  be  foolish  to  believe  that  the  apostles  re- 
ceived from  Christ  no  spiritual  gifts  except  what  were  de- 
rived by  them  immediately  and  purely — simpliciter — from 
Peter,  for  Christ  said  to  all:  "Whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on 
earth,"  Matt.  18  :  18;  also,  ^'Receive  ye  the  Holy  Spirit: 
whosesoever  sins  ye  remit  they  are  remitted  unto  them,"  John 
20  :  23;  and  again,  ''This  do  ye  in  remembrance  of  me," 
Luke  22  :  19;  and  still  again,  "All  power  is  given  unto  me 
in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye  therefore  and  teach  all 
nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded'  you;  and  lo,  I  am  with  you 
all  the  days,  even  unto  the  consummation  of  the  ages," 
Matt.  28  :  19,  20. 

1  A  letter  of  Pope  Anacletus  to  the  bishops  of  Italy  asserting  the  gift  of  the 
primacy  to  the  Roman  church. 
-  Prcecepi.    Vulgate:  Mandavi. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   ABUSE   OF   SCRIPTURE   IN   THE   INTEREST  OF 

CLERICAL   POWER 

Because  many  priests  abandon  the  imitation  of  Christ, 
the  high  priest,  and  boast  of  the  power  committed  to  the 
church,  without  doing  works  that  correspond,  therefore  up 
to  this  time  we  have  been  speaking  of  the  power  of  this 
kind.  For  they  extract  out  of  Matt.  i8  :  i6,  "Whatsoever 
thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  boimd  in  heaven,"  that 
whatsoever  they  do,  every  man  ought  altogether  to  approve. 
And  from  the  words  of  Matt.  23  :  2,  "The  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees sit  on  Moses'  seat,  therefore  all  things  whatsoever  they 
bid  you,  these  do,"  they  extract  that  every  inferior  is  to  obey 
them  in  all  things.  And  so  these  priests  clamorously  apply 
to  themselves  at  their  own  pleasure  whatsoever  appeals  to 
them  out  of  Christ's  Gospel,  and  without  any  ministry  of 
love  on  their  part  to  correspond.  But  what  plainly  calls  for 
toil  and  worldly  self-abnegation  and  the  imitation  of  Christ, 
that  they  spurn  away  as  something  inappUcable  to  them- 
selves, or  make  beHeve  they  hold  it  when  they  do  not. 

Hence,  because  Jesus  said  to  Peter,  "I  will  give  unto  thee 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
bind  on  earth,  etc.,"  this  they  lay  hold  of  with  great  compla- 
cency for  the  exaltation  of  their  own  power.  But  what  the 
Lord  said  to  Peter,  John  21  :  17,  "Follow  me  and  feed  my 
sheep,"  this  they  flee  from  as  poison.  Likewise,  what  he 
said  to  his  disciples.  Matt.  18  :  18,  "What  things  soever  ye 
shall  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,"  they  grate- 
fully seize  upon  and  glory  in.     But  what  he  says.  Matt. 

Ill 


112  THE  CHURCH 

lo  :  9,  "Get  you  no  gold  nor  silver,"  they  shun  as  hurtful. 
In  the  same  way  what  he  said  to  his  disciples,  John  20  :  23, 
"Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit 
they  are  remitted  unto  them;  and  whosesoever  sins  ye  re- 
tain they  are  retained,"  very  placidly  they  accept.  But  what 
he  says  in  Matt.  11  :  29,  "Learn  of  me  for  I  am  meek  and 
lowly  of  heart, "  even  the  gentleness  and  meekness,  which  pre- 
pare a  place  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  do  not  admit  to  their 
hearts. 

Also  what  the  Lord  said  to  his  disciples,  Luke  10  :  16, 
"He  that  heareth  you  heareth  me,"  they  seize  upon  as  mean- 
ing obedience  to  themselves,  but  what  the  Lord  says  in  Matt. 
20  :  25,  "Ye  know  that  the  rulers  of  the  Gentiles  do  lord  it 
over  them  and  their  great  ones  exercise  authority  over  them. 
Not  so  shall  it  be  among  you,  but,  whosoever  would  become 
great  among  you,  shall  be  your  minister,  and  whosoever 
would  be  first  among  you  shall  be  your  servant:  even  as  the 
Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister," 
— this  most  weighty  saying  they  repudiate  in  word  and  deed 
— in  word,  saying  that  they  ought  to  rule,  and  in  deed  because 
they  do  not  wish  to  minister  to  the  church  after  the  custom 
of  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord. 

And  that  I  may  gather  up  briefly  all  that  the  Scripture 
says,  and  especially  the  Gospel:  what  seems  to  indicate  to 
them  that  they  ought  to  be  rich,  live  delicately,  be  famous 
in  the  world,  and  sufTer  no  reproach  for  Christ,  these  sayings 
they  ruminate  over,  proclaim  aloud  and  make  known  all  too 
extensively.  But  whatever  calls  for  the  imitation  of  Christ, 
as  poverty,  gentleness,  humility,  endurance,  chastity,  toil  or 
patience— these  passages  they  suppress  or  gloss  over  at  their 
pleasure  or  expressly  set  aside  as  not  pertaining  to  salva- 
tion. And  the  devil,  who  is  the  worst  of  sophists,  leads 
them  astray  by  their  ignorance  of  the  logical  consequences, 
arguing  in  this  way:  "Christ  gave  such  authority  to  Peter 
and  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  therefore  also  to  you."    And 


THE  ABUSE  OF  SCRIPTURE  113 

from  this  they  draw  the  inference  that  it  is  lawful  for  them 
to  do  whatsoever  they  please,  and  so,  by  reasoning  of  the 
same  kind,  they  are  most  blessed  fathers  together  with  Christ 
in  pronouncing  judgment  in  the  church  and  because  they  are 
to  be  crowned  later  with  an  everlasting  crown.  But  blessed 
be  Christ,  the  omniscient,  who  said  these  things  to  his  apos- 
tles, knowing  that  the  authority  which  was  given  to  them 
they  would  use  according  to  his  good  pleasure  in  ministering 
to  his  bride. 

So  far,  therefore,  as  the  power — authority — is  concerned 
in  which  the  clergy  glories  it  is  to  be  noted,  that  power  is 
sometimes  taken  to  mean  lordship  or  real  power,  as  in  Ro- 
mans 13  :  i:  "Let  every  soul  be  in  subjection  to  the  higher 
powers."  Sometimes  it  is  taken  in  an  ambiguous  sense  to 
mean  assumed  or  simulated  power,  as  Christ  said  to  his  cap- 
tors sent  by  the  power  of  the  high  priests,  Luke  22  :  53: 
"This  is  your  hour  and  the  power  of  darkness."  And  it  is 
said,  Rev.  6:8:  "Lo,  a  pale  horse:  and  he  that  sat  upon 
him,  his  name  was  Death:  and  hell  followed  him,  and  there 
was  given  unto  him  power  over  the  four  parts  of  the  earth 
to  kill  with  sword,  famine,  and  death,  and  by  the  wild  beasts 
of  the  earth."  Also  it  is  said.  Rev.  13  :  4,  that  the  "dragon 
gave  his  authority— power — unto  the  beast,  and  they  wor- 
shipped the  beast  saying.  Who  is  like  unto  the  beast?  who 
is  able  to  war  with  him?  .  .  .  And  it  was  given  unto  him 
to  make  war  with  the  saints  and  to  overcome  them,  and  there 
was  given  to  him  authority  over  every  tribe  and  people  and 
every  tongue  and  nation;  and  all  that  dwell  on  the  earth 
shall  worship  him,  every  one  whose  name  hath  not  been  writ- 
ten in  the  book  of  life  and  of  the  Lamb,^  that  hath  been 
slain."  Who  is  this  beast  whom  men  worship  out  of  fear  of 
his  power?  He  who  reads  let  him  understand  and  resist  as- 
sumed power  of  this  kind  and  let  him  not  fear,  as  they  did, 
because  it  was  given  to  that  beast  to  make  war  against  the 

^  The  Vulgate  has  libra  vite  Agni,  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life. 


114  THE  CHURCH 

saints  and  to  overcome  by  the  death  of  this  body — the  saints 
who,  dying  for  the  law  of  Christ,  finally  overcome  that  beast. 
For  to  these  very  ones  the  Saviour  said,  "Fear  not  them 
which  kill  the  body,"  Matt.  lo  :  28,  and  "In  the  world  ye 
shall  have  tribulation,  but  be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  over- 
come the  world,"  John  16  :  33.  Here  Augustine,  in  his 
Com,  on  John  [Nic.  Fathers,  7  :  393],  says:  "In  whom  do 
they  have  good  cheer  and  overcome  except  in  Him?  For 
he  would  not  have  overcome  the  world  if  the  world  over- 
came his  members.  Hence  the  apostle  says:  'Thanks  be  to 
God  which  giveth  us  the  victory,'  and  adds,  'through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,'  who  said  to  his  disciples,  'Be  of  good 
cheer  for  I  have  overcome  the  world.'"  Thus  much  Augus- 
tine. But  they  overcome  the  power  of  the  dragon  and  the 
beast  who  have  the  power  of  predestination  which  is  the  chief 
of  powers  and  of  which  John  speaks:  "To  them  gave  he 
the  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,"  John  i  :  12.  And 
to  this  power  is  added  perfecting  power,  and  that  is  the  power 
which  God  gives  to  the  blessed  in  the  heavenly  country  to 
fully  enjoy  the  Lord  and  every  creature  in  Him. 

Therefore,  the  true  worshippers  of  Christ,  wishing  to  ob- 
tain that  power,  ought  to  resist  every  assumed  power  which 
seeks  to  remove  them  from  the  imitation  of  Christ  by  force 
or  craft,  for,  in  thus  resisting  such  power  we  do  not  resist 
the  ordinance  of  God  but  the  abuse  of  power.  And  such 
abuse,  in  respect  to  the  power  of  the  keys,  the  simoniacs^ 

^  Huss  constantly  attacked  the  simony  of  the  clergy  and  regarded  his  legal 
troubles  as  a  result  of  these  assaults.  He  wrote  a  special  tract  on  the  sub- 
ject in  Czech  entitled,  The  Traffic  in  Holy  Things,  which  he  closed  by  exalting 
Christ  as  the  only  way,  truth  and  life.  In  his  de  sex  Erroribus,  Mon.,  i  :  240- 
243,  he  also  gave  the  subject  elaborate  treatment,  quoting  at  length  from  the 
canon  law  and  declaring  that  prelates  guilty  of  it  are  in  mortal  sin,  and  so  their 
acts  invalid.  He  speaks  there  of  the  sale  of  baptisms,  confirmations,  chrism, 
the  marrriage  blessing,  the  mass  and  sepulture.  Laymen  also  were  guilty  of 
it  who  abet  or  wink  at  the  practise  in  their  priests.  He  returned  to  this  vice 
in  almost  all  his  writings.  He  speaks  of  Prague  clerics  selling  consecrated  oil 
at  a  higher  price  than  common  oil  and  charging  thirty  groschen  for  thirty 
masses,  and  says  that  if  priests  would  attempt  to  say  all  the  masses  they  as- 


THE  ABUSE  OF  SCRIPTURE  115 

exercise  who  allege  that  they  can  either  damn  the  deserving 
or  loose  those  who  are  bound,  and  they  do  this  because  the 
obedience  they  falsely  demand  is  refused  them  or  for  the 
sake  of  the  gain  they  derive.  Of  such  priests  the  Lord  said: 
*'They  polluted  me  among  my  people  for  a  handful  of  barley 
and  a  piece  of  bread  that  they  might  slay  souls,  which  do 
not  die,  and  make  alive  souls,  which  do  not  live,  lying  to 
my  people  which  believes  lies,"  Ezek.  13  :  19.  On  this 
passage  Gregory  comments,  11  :  3,  Plerisque^  [Friedberg, 
I  :  667],  and  says:  "Rightly  does  the  prophet  say  they  put 
souls  to  death  which  do  not  die  and  make  alive  souls  which 
do  not  live.  For,  indeed,  he  puts  to  death  one  who  does 
not  die  when  he  condemns  the  righteous,  and  he  attempts  to 
make  alive  him  who  does  not  live^  when  he  seeks  to  loose 
the  guilty  from  the  sentence  of  death."  This  abuse  of  power 
they  exercise  who  sell  and  buy  the  sacred  orders,  episcopates, 
canonries,  and  parishes — plehanias.  They  secure  and  sell 
simoniacally  who  make  spoil  out  of  the  sacraments,  living  in 
pleasure,  avarice,  and  luxury  or  who,  by  any  other  kind  of 
criminality,  defile  the  power  of  the  priesthood.  For  even  if 
they  declare  that  they  know  God,  they,  nevertheless,  deny 
Him  by  their  deeds,  Titus  i  :  16.  Consequently,  they  do 
not  believe  in  God,  and  so,  as  unbelieving  children,  they 
have  unbelieving  thoughts  about  the  seven  sacraments  of  the 
church  and  also  about  the  keys,  the  ministries,  censures,  the 
customs,  ceremonies,  and  sacred  things  of  the  church  and 
likewise  the  worship  of  relics,  indulgences,  and  sacred  orders. 
This  is  clear  because  such  despise  God's  name.  Hence  it 
is  said  in  Mai.  i  :  6,  10:  "Unto  you,  0  priests,  that  despise 
my  name.  And  ye  say.  Wherein  have  we  despised  thy  name  ? 
Ye  offer  polluted  bread  upon  my  altar.  .  .  .  Oh,  that  there 
were  one  among  you  that  would  shut  the  doors  and  kindle 

sumed  to  say,  saying  fifteen  a  day,  they  would  not  have  gotten  through  in  fif- 
teen years.     One  of  Gregory  VII's  reform  movements  was  to  do  away  with 
clerical  simony.     Dante  put  simoniacal  popes  in  hell,  including  Boniface  VIII. 
^  Mistake  for  plerumqiie.  -  Vivum,  a  mistake  for  victurum. 


ii6  THE  CHURCH 

fire  upon  my  altar  in  vain!  I  have  no  pleasure  in  you,  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts,  neither  will  I  accept  an  offering  at  your 
hand."  Behold  how  the  Lord  speaks  to  the  wicked  priests  be- 
cause they  despise  His  name  and  offer  polluted  bread.  Hence 
Gregory,  i  :  i,  MuUi  sec.  [Friedberg,  i  :  388],  follows  up  his 
statement  about  the  sacraments  and  power  by  saying:  *' So  we 
defile  the  bread,  that  is,  Christ's  body,  when  we  approach  un- 
worthily the  altar,  and  with  filthy  lips  drink  his  pure  blood." 
And  the  apostle  says:  "He  who  despised  Moses'  law,  died 
without  any  mercy  under  two  or  three  witnesses.  Of  how 
much  sorer  punishment,  think  ye,  shall  he  be  judged  worthy 
who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God  and  accounted 
the  blood  of  the  covenant  wherewith  he  was  sanctified  an  un- 
holy thing?"    Heb.  10  :  28,  29. 

In  the  second  place,  such  crucify  the  Son  of  God.  For 
the  apostle  says:  "Crucifying  to  themselves  afresh  the  Son 
of  God,  they  put  him  to  an  open  shame,"  Heb.  6  :  6.  Thirdly, 
such  deal  wickedly  with  the  law  of  Christ,  of  whom  St. 
Jerome  in  Sophoniam  Proph.,  1  :  i  [Com.  on  Zephaniah, 
Friedberg,  i  :  391],  says:  "The  priests  who  minister  in  the 
eucharist  and  distribute  the  Lord's  flesh  to  his  people,  deal 
wickedly  with  Christ's  law  in  thinking  that  the  words  of  the 
one  who  curses  make  the  eucharist  and  not  his  life,  and  that 
such  a  solemn  address  is  all  that  is  necessary  and  not  the  merits 
of  priests."  Of  these  he  says:  "A  priest  who  is  assoiled  by  any 
stain  of  sin  should  not  approach  the  table  to  offer  sacrifices 
to  the  Lord."  Fourthly,  the  persons  spoken  of  above  blas- 
pheme the  Lord's  majesty.  Hence  we  read:  "Who  walk 
after  the  flesh  in  the  lusts  of  defilement  and  despise  damna- 
tion," II  Peter  2  :  10.  Further  on  Peter  says:  "But  these 
as  creatures  without  reason  to  be  taken  and  destroyed,  rail- 
ing in  matters  whereof  they  are  ignorant."  On  this  point 
St.  Augustine,  on  Psalm  147  [Nic.  Fathers,  8  :  665],  says: 
"If  thou  dost  exceed  the  due  measure  of  nature  by  glutton- 
ous immoderation  and  satest   thyself  with  wine-bibbing,  so 


THE  ABUSE  OF  SCRIPTURE  117 

often  as  thy  tongue  sounds  the  praises  of  God,  so  often  thy 
Hfe  blasphemes."  How,  then,  shall  the  avaricious,  simoniacs, 
the  self-indulgent  and  those  guilty  of  other  crimes  think  in 
goodness  of  heart  about  the  Lord  or  about  his  sacraments 
when  they,  like  infidels,  despise  the  Lord's  name,  defile  his 
bread,  crucify  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  and  put  him 
to  an  open  shame,  deal  wickedly  with  God's  law  and  despise 
government  and  blaspheme? 

It  is  also  clear  that  to  this  class  belong  the  pestiferous 
clergy  who,  in  an  infidel  way,  think  of  the  seven  sacraments 
of  the  church  and  of  the  keys  and  of  other  things  belonging 
to  Christ's  law.  It  is  also  clear  that  the  dictum  of  the  doc- 
tors—whose leader  at  that  time  was  Stephen  Palecz,  supported 
by  Stanislaus,  who  led  after  them  Peter  of  Znaim,  John  He- 
lise,  Andrew  Broda,  John  Hildissen,  Matthew  the  Monk, 
Herman  the  Hermit,  George  Boras,  and  Simon  Vuenda— 
laid  down  as  a  statement  of  the  matter  of  disagreement,  is 
to  be  verified  by  the  conduct  of  the  clergy  who  were  living 
in  sin.i  For,  in  the  beginning  of  their  writing,  they  say: 
"The  matter  of  this  disagreement  is  manifest  from  the  lives 
of  some  of  the  clergy  who  are  pestiferous."     Because  Christ's 

>  The  document  referred  to  (Doc,  475  •???•)  was  signed  by  eight  doctors  of  the 
theological  faculty  of  the  university  of  Prague  against  the  XLV  Articles  of  Wyclif 
and  seven  other  articles  alleged  to  give  Huss's  views,  such  as  that  the  priest 
does  no  more  than  announce  the  forgiveness  of  sins  in  the  sacrament  of  pen- 
ance. It  was  an  attack  upon  Huss  for  the  hostile  position  he  had  assumed^  to 
the  sale  of  indulgences  ordered  by  John  XXIII,  1411-  The  disturbances  which 
followed  in  Prague  led  the  king,  Wenzel,  to  call  the  eight  magisters  and  Huss 
before  him  at  his  summer  residence  of  Zebrak.  There,  after  a  meeting  in  the 
parish  house  at  which  Palecz  read  a  paper  charging  Huss  with  disobedience  to 
the  university  authorities,  they  appeared  before  the  king.  Huss  offered  to 
submit  himself  to  the  ordeal  of  fire  provided  that  the  others  did  and  that  the 
party  not  proving  its  case  from  Scripture  should  undergo  it.  The  proposition 
was  not  accepted,  the  meeting  seems  to  have  come  to  naught,  and  the  disturb- 
ances in  Prague  went  on,  and  the  three  men  were  murdered  to  whom  reference  is 
made  in  a  succeeding  chapter.  Huss  made  an  elaborate  Reply  to  the  Eight 
Doctors,  Mon.,  i  :  366-408,  in  which  he  goes  into  the  scriptural  authority 
limiting' the  papal  power  of  indulgence  and  the  priestly  power  of  remission  of 
sins.  The  eight  doctors  included  the  names  given  above  with  the  exception 
of  Boras  and  Vuenda.     See  ad  Stanisl.,  Mon.,  i :  331. 


ii8  THE  CHURCH 

priests  preach  against  the  offenses  of  pestiferous  clerics, 
therefore  has  this  disagreement  arisen,  for  the  reason  that 
the  clergy  in  imparting  to  the  people  the  plague  of  criminal 
living  and  refusing  to  tolerate  the  preaching  of  those  who 
preach  against  their  plague,  which  is  at  variance  with  the 
Gospel  and  who  seek  to  cure  their  infection  by  the  Word  of 
the  Lord,  has  conspired  together  and  desires  in  malice  to  sup- 
press preaching.  But  the  purpose  of  the  said  doctors  was 
to  prove  that  those  who  evangelize  against  the  wickedness  of 
the  pestiferous  clergy  were  heretical  on  the  subject  of  the  keys, 
which,  with  the  help  of  the  Lord,  during  the  term  of  their 
lives,  they  will  not  prove. 


CHAPTER  XII 

CHRIST  THE  TRUE   ROMAN  PONTIFF  UPON  WHOM 
SALVATION  DEPENDS 

To  the  honor  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  honor  and 
also  Christ  the  aforesaid  doctors  nowhere  mention  in  their 
writing,  this  conclusion  is  proved,  namely,  "to  be  subject  to 
the  Roman  pontiff  is  necessary  for  salvation  for  every  human 
being."  ^    From  this  it  is  clear,  that  no  one  can  be  saved 
unless  he  is  meritoriously   subject   to   Jesus   Christ.     But 
Christ  is  the  Roman  pontiff,  just  as  he  is  the  head  of  the 
universal  church  and  every  particular  church.      Therefore 
the  conclusion  is  a  true  one.    The  consequence  is  clear  from 
the  major  premise.     And  the  minor  premise  is  clear  from  the 
things  said  above  and  from  what  is  said  in  I  Peter  2  :  25, 
"For  ye  were  sometime  going  astray  like  sheep  but  are  now 
returned  unto  the  shepherd  and  bishop  of  your  souls,"  and 
also  from  Heb.  7  :  22:  "By  so  much  also  hath  Jesus  become 
the  surety  of  a  better  covenant  and  they  indeed  have  been 
made  free,  many  in  number,  according  to  the  law  because 
that  by  death  they  are  hindered  from  continuing.     But  this 
man,  because  he  continueth  forever,  hath  his  priesthood  un- 
changeable, wherefore  also  he  is  able  to  save  to  the  utter- 
most, drawing  near  through  himself  2  to  the  Lord  and  always 
living  to  intercede  for  us.     For  such  a  high  priest  became 
us  holy,  guileless,  undefiled,  separated  from  sinners  and  made 
higher  than  the  heavens,  who  needeth  not  daily  like  those 

1  From  Boniface  VIII's  buU  Unam  sanctam.  The  expression  in  the  next 
sentence,  "meritoriously,"  refers  to  the  mediasval  doctrine  of  merit  in  propor- 
tion to  our  good  works.  ,11 

2  Accedens  refers  the  drawing  near  to  Christ.  The  Vulgate  has  the  plural, 
accidentes,  those  who  draw  near  through  Christ. 

119 


I20  THE  CHURCH 

priests,  to  offer  up  sacrifices  first  for  his  own  sins  and  then 
for  the  sins  of  the  people,  for  this  he  did  once  for  all  when 
he  offered  himself." 

Truly  this  is  the  most  holy  and  chief  Roman  pontiff,  sit- 
ting at  God's  right  hand  and  dwelling  with  us,  for  he  said: 
"And  lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the  days,  even  unto  the  consum- 
mation of  the  age,"  Matt.  28  :  20.  For  that  person,  Christ, 
is  everywhere  present,  since  he  is  very  God  whose  right  it  is 
to  be  everywhere  without  limitation.  He  is  the  bishop,  who 
baptizes  and  takes  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  John  i  :  29. 
He  is  the  one  who  joins  in  marriage  so  that  no  man  may  put 
asunder:  "What  God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put 
asunder,"  Matt.  19  :  6.  He  is  the  one  who  makes  us  priests: 
"He  made  us  a  kingdom  and  priests,"  Rev.  1:6.  He  per- 
forms the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist,  saying:  "This  is  my 
body,"  Luke  22  :  19.  This  is  he  who  confirms  his  faithful 
ones:  "I  will  give  you  a  mouth  of  wisdom  which  all  your 
adversaries  will  not  be  able  to  withstand  or  gainsay,"  Luke 
21  :  15.  He  it  is  who  feeds  his  sheep  by  his  word  and  ex- 
ample and  by  the  food  of  his  body.  All  these  things,  how- 
ever, he  does  on  his  part  indefectibly,  because  he  is  a  holy 
priest,  guileless,  undefiled,  separated  from  sinners  and  made 
higher  than  the  heavens.  He  is  the  bishop  holding  supreme 
guardianship  over  his  flock,  because  he  sleeps  not  nor  is  he, 
that  watches  over  Israel,  weary.  He  is  the  pontiff  who  in 
advance  makes  the  way  easy  for  us  to  the  heavenly  country. 
He  is  the  pope — papa — because  he  is  the  wonderful  Prince 
of  Peace,  the  Father  of  the  future  age.  For,  indeed,  such  a 
pontiff  became  us  who,  since  he  was  in  the  form  of  God,  did 
not  think  it  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God  but  emptied  him- 
self, taking  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  because  he  hum- 
bled himself  by  being  made  obedient  unto  death,  even  the 
death  of  the  cross.  Wherefore  God  hath  highly  exalted 
him  and  given  him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name, 
that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things 


CHRIST  THE  TRUE  ROMAN  PONTIFF       121 

in  heaven,  of  things  on  the  earth,  and  things  in  hell  [Phil. 
2  :  6  sqq.]. 

^  To  this  the  conclusion  follows,  namely:  *'To  be  subject 
to  the  Roman  pontiff  is  necessary  for  salvation  for  every 
human  being."  But  there  is  no  other  such  pontiff  except 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  our  pontiff.  This  is  so  because 
the  humanity  of  Christ  is  not  subject  to  any  other  pontiff 
as  of  necessity  to  salvation,  inasmuch  as  God  hath  exalted 
him  and  given  him  a  name  which  is  to  be  the  most  worthy 
above  every  other  name,  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every 
knee  should  bow  and  every  power  bend  in  obedience  to  him 
"of  things  in  heaven,"  that  is,  the  angels;  "things  on  the 
earth,"  that  is,  all  men;  and  "of  things  in  hell,"  that  is,  the 
devils.  And  it  is  also  so  because  Christ's  mother  was  a  human 
being';  John  the  Baptist  also,  Peter  the  apostle,  and  other 
saints  now  in  heaven,  and  for  none  of  these  was  it  necessary 
for  salvation  to  be  subject  to  any  other  Roman  pontiff  besides 
Christ,  seeing  that  they  are  already  saved,  persons  whom  no 
Roman  pontiff  can  loose  or  bind.  Therefore,  Pope  Clement 
extended  his  authority  all  too  far  when  in  his  bull  The  An- 
gels of  Paradise,  he  commanded  the  angels  to  lead  into  the 
everlasting  joys  the  soul  of  one  who  had  died  on  a  journey  to 
Rome  to  secure  indulgence,  and  who  had  been  absolved  from 
purgatory.  For  this  pope  wished  that  at  his  command  the 
heavenly  angels  should  bow  their  knees.  And  he  added, 
"We  wish  that  the  pain  of  hell  be  not  inflicted  upon  that 
soul  in  any  degree,"  and  so  he  commanded  that  the  power 
or  the  knees  of  the  spirits  in  hell  should  also  bow  at  his 
command.  Not  so  did  the  apostles  presume,  for  John  wished 
not  to  command  but  to  worship  at  the  feet  of  angels,  as  he 
said,  Rev.  22  :  8:  "I,  John,  fell  down  to  worship  before  the 
feet  of  the  angel,  and  he  said  to  me,  see  thou  do  it  not,  for 
I  am  a  fellow  servant  with  thee  and  with  thy  brethren  the 
prophets  and  with  them  that  keep  the  words  of  the  prophecy 
of  this  book.     Worship  God."     See  how  great  is  this  apostle 


122  THE  CHURCH 

and  prophet,  beloved  of  God,  who  without  doubt  excelled 
modern  popes  and  notably  Clement,  who  gave  command  to 
the  angels.  He  did  not  wish  to  give  any  command  to  an 
angel  but,  falling  down,  wished  to  worship  before  his  feet,  and 
the  holy  angel  forbade  him,  showing  him  that  he  ought  to 
worship  God. 

But  in  view  of  Heb.  7  :  23,  "many  indeed  are  made  priests 
according  to  the  law,"  it  is  to  be  noted  that  every  high  priest 
of  the  old  law  prefigured  Christ  in  all  his  legal  acts.  There- 
fore he  is  called,  uniquely,  the  High  Priest  and  Bishop  of  our 
souls,  and  for  this  reason  that  multitude  of  priests  and  their 
offices  are  fulfilled  in  Christ  alone,  as  the  apostle  says  in 
Heb.  7  and  9.  And  this  is  the  reason  why  the  apostles  did  not 
call  themselves  most  holy  popes,  heads  of  the  universal  church, 
or  universal  pontiffs;  but,  having  with  them  the  High  Priest 
even  unto  the  consummation  of  the  age,  they  called  them- 
selves servants  of  Christ,  his  companions  in  tribulation  and 
ministers  of  the  church.  Hence  this  holy  custom  was  ob- 
served in  the  time  of  St.  Gregory,  Decretum,  Dist.  92  [Fried- 
berg,  I  :  318];  and  in  the  preface  of  his  letter  [Nic.  Fathers, 
2d  Ser.,  12  :  241]  Gregory  says:  "See  how,  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  I  forbade  that  thou  shouldst  use  that  word  of 
proud  entitlement.  Thou  wert  concerned  to  confer  upon  me 
the  title  of  universal  pope  which  I  beg  thy  most  sweet  holi- 
ness not  to  do  any  more,  for  in  this  way  would  be  taken 
away  from  thee  and  shown  to  another  more  authority  than 
reason  allows.  I  do  not  seek  to  be  advanced  with  words — 
[titles] — but  by  my  good  life — morihus.  Nor  do  I  regard  that 
to  be  an  honor  wherein  I  would  know  that  my  brethren  had 
lost  their  honor.  For  mine  is  also  the  honor  of  the  universal 
church;  my  honor  is  the  solid  stability  of  my  brethren. 
Then  am  I  honored,  when  the  honor  due  is  not  denied  to 
any  single  one  of  them,  for  if  thy  holiness  entitles  me  uni- 
versal pope,  it  denies  that  thou  art  this,  because  thy  holiness 
professes  that  I  am  the  whole — universum.     But  far  be  that 


CHRIST  THE  TRUE  ROMAN  PONTIFF       123 

from  us!  Away  with  words  which  puff  up  vanity^  and  wound 
love!"  From  the  words  of  this  holy  pope  the  deduction  is 
to  be  drawn  that  he  may  be  easily  puffed  up  who  is  called 
most  holy  father,  though  he  perhaps  lives  in  sin  and  is  struck 
through  with  flattery  or  through  ignorance  lies. 

Therefore,  Gregory  most  notably  says:  "I  desire  not  to 
be  advanced  with  words  but  by  a  good  life."  Alas !  not  thus 
do  modern  pontiffs  think  who,  destitute  of  good  lives — 
morals — glory  in  a  bare  title,  imagining  to  themselves  that  the 
name.  Holiness,  befits  them  in  virtue  of  their  office  or  ecclesi- 
astical dignity.  But  if  this  reasoning  held,  then  Judas  would 
have  had  to  be  called  holy  apostle.  But  blessed  be  the 
Lord,  who,  in  order  to  remove  this  cloak,  said  to  his  disciples: 
"Have  I  not  chosen  you  and  one  of  you  is  a  devil?"  John 
6  :  70.    This  he  said  before  Iscariot  had  betrayed  his  master. 

Hence  holy  men,  when  they  have  been  praised  by  men, 
have  humbled  themselves  and  have  burdened  their  minds 
with  fear,  lest  praise  should  cast  them  down  from  a  merit 
still  more  worthy.  Therefore,  Peter,  Christ's  apostle,  when 
he  was  called  by  messengers  went  humbly  to  the  Gentile, 
Cornelius,  and  when  he  was  on  the  way,  Cornelius  went  to 
meet  him,  instructed  by  an  angel  of  Peter's  holiness,  and  wor- 
shipped at  Peter's  feet.  And  Peter,  taught  of  God  about 
Cornelius  and  assured  through  revelation  of  his  blessedness, 
did  not  permit  Cornelius  to  lie  at  his  feet  as  do  modern  pon- 
tiffs in  whom  not  a  scintilla  of  holiness  is  seen.  Nay,  often 
they  are  conscious  of  their  sin  in  allowing  themselves  to  be 
reverenced  and,  on  that  account,  make  the  more  ostentation, 
and  if  the  ostentatious  title — titulus  pompositatis — be  omitted, 
they  at  once  shake  with  anger. 

'  Vanitatem,  Huss's  text  has  wrongly  unitatem,  unity.  This  famous  letter 
(see  Mirbt,  p.  77,  for  the  full  text),  addressed  to  Eulogius,  patriarch  of  Alexan- 
dria, by  Gregory  the  Great,  598,  is  a  strong  testimony,  constantly  appealed  to, 
against  the  exorbitant  claims  of  the  papacy.  Six  hundred  years  later,  one  of 
Gregory's  successors,  Innocent  III,  added  to  the  other  papal  titles  that  of 
Vicar  of  God. 


124  THE  CHURCH 

Wishing  to  put  an  end  to  this  pride,  the  African  council/ 
Dist.  99  [Friedberg,  i  :  350],  says:  "Let  not  the  bishop  of 
the  first  see  be  called  the  prince  of  priests  or  high  priest  or 
anything  of  this  kind,  but  only  bishop  of  the  first  see.  And 
the  Roman  pontiff  is  not  to  be  called  universal  bishop." 
Proscribed  are  all  these  things  which  proceed  from  ostenta- 
tions, pride,  flattery,  avarice,  and  from  the  blind  deception 
of  the  unlearned.  Returning,  therefore,  to  our  most  lowly 
High  Priest,  Jesus  Christ,  who  bade  him  that  was  called  to 
the  wedding  take  the  lowest  place  [Luke  14  :  9],  let  us  con- 
fess to  him  according  to  his  precept  that  we  are  unprofitable 
servants,  Luke  17  :  10.  For  he  said:  "When  ye  shall  have 
done  all  those  things  which  are  commanded  you,  say.  We  are 
unprofitable  servants."  For,  when  we  have  kept  all  his  pre- 
cepts, and  shall  have  humbled  our  souls  before  this  High 
Priest — knowing  that  it  is  possible  that  our  pontiffs  may  be 
thieves  and  robbers — this  Bishop  of  our  souls  will  not  fail 
us  in  things  necessary  to  salvation,  but  will  pasture,  guard, 
and  feed  his  sheep  as  a  truly  good  Shepherd. 

1  Third  council  of  Carthage,  397,  which  fixed  the  catholic  canon  of  the  O.  T. 
and  the  canon  of  the  N.  T.  as  then  accepted  by  all  Western  Christendom. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  POPE  NOT  THE  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH  BUT 

CHRIST'S  VICAR 

Further,  the  aforesaid  doctors  lay  down  in  their  writ- 
ing that  "  the  pope  is  head  of  the  Roman  church  and  the 
college  of  cardinals  the  body,  and  that  they  are  very  suc- 
cessors and  princes  of  the  apostle  Peter  and  the  college  of 
Christ's  other  apostles  in  ecclesiastical  office  for  the  purpose 
of  discerning  and  defining  all  catholic  and  church  matters, 
correcting  and  purging  all  errors  in  respect  to  them  and,  in 
all  these  matters,  to  have  the  care  of  all  the  churches  and  of 
all  the  faithful  of  Christ.  For  in  order  to  govern  the  church 
throughout  the  whole  world  it  is  fitting  there  should  always 
continue  to  be  such  manifest  and  true  successors  in  the  office 
of  Peter,  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  and  of  the  college  of  the 
other  apostles  of  Christ.  And  such  successors  cannot  be 
found  or  procured  on  the  earth  other  than  the  pope,  the  ex- 
isting head,  and  the  college  of  cardinals,  the  existing  body,  of 
the  aforesaid  Roman  church." 

These  foUies,  long  drawn  out,  which,  I  think,  proceeded 
for  the  most  part  from  the  brain  of  Stanislaus,  overcome  and 
terrified  by  the  Roman  curia,  involve  many  points.  And  in 
regard  to  these,  I  note  that  in  their  writing  the  church  is 
taken  to  mean  all  Christian  pilgrims.  They  seem  to  admit 
this  when  they  say  that  "  the  body  of  the  clergy  in  the  king- 
dom of  Bohemia,  not  only  with  the  whole  body  of  clergy 
in  the  world  but  also  with  the  whole  body  of  Christendom, 
always  feels  and  believes  as  the  faith  dictates,  just  as  the 
Roman  church  does."     Or,  secondly,  these  doctors  call  the 

125 


126  THE   CHURCH 

pope,  together  with  his  cardinals,  alone  the  Roman  church, 
when  they  say  that  they  believe  just  as  the  Roman  church 
believes  and  not  otherwise,  the  pope  being  the  head  of  this 
Roman  church  and  the  cardinals  the  body.  In  these  ways 
only,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  do  the  doctors  designate  the  church 
in  their  writing. 

I  assume  that  the  pope  stands  for  that  spiritual  bishop 
who,  in  the  highest  way  and  in  the  most  similar  way,  occu- 
pies the  place  of  Christ,  just  as  Peter  did  after  the  ascen- 
sion. But  if  any  person  whatsoever  is  to  be  called  pope— 
whom  the  Western  church  accepts  as  Roman  bishop — ap- 
pointed to  decide  as  the  final  court  ecclesiastical  cases  and  to 
teach  the  faithful  whatever  he  wishes,  then  there  is  an  abuse 
of  the  term,  because  according  to  this  view,  it  would  be  nec- 
essary in  cases  to  concede  that  the  most  unlettered  layman 
or  a  female,  or  a  heretic  and  antichrist,  may  be  pope.  This 
is  plain,  for  Constantine  II,  an  unlettered  layman,  was  sud- 
denly ordained  a  priest  and  through  ambition  made  pope 
and  then  was  deposed  and  all  the  things  which  he  ordained 
were  declared  invalid,  about  A.  D.  707.^  And  the  same  is 
plain  from  the  case  of  Gregory,  who  was  unlettered  and  con- 
secrated another  in  addition  to  himself.  And  as  the  people 
were  displeased  with  the  act,  a  third  pope  was  superinduced. 
Then  these  quarrelling  among  themselves,  the  emperor  came 
to  Rome  and  elected  another  as  sole  pope.^    As  for  a  female, 

*  Constantine  II,  767-768 — not  707 — was  elected  through  the  influence  of 
his  brother  Toto,  duke  of  Nepi.  He  was  rushed  through  the  various  grades  of 
ordination  and  then  forced  out  of  the  papal  chair  by  a  military  insurrection, 
thrown  into  prison,  and  blinded.     Huss  often  cites  his  case.     Mon.,  i  :  342,  etc. 

^  Huss  seems  to  refer  to  Gregory  VI,  1045-1046  (see  also  Reply  to  Stanislaus, 
Mon.,  I  :  342),  although  a  part  of  his  statement  cannot  be  verified.  Gregory 
bought  the  papacy  from  the  flagitious  Benedict  IX  for  one  thousand  or,  accord- 
ing to  another  account,  two  thousand  pounds  silver.  There  were  then  three 
popes,  Benedict  IX,  Sylvester  III,  and  Gregory,  all  three  elected  by  the  Roman 
people.  At  the  synod  of  Sutri,  1046,  two  of  these  popes  were  deposed  and 
Gregory  abdicated  and,  at  the  instance  of  the  Emperor  Henry  III,  the  bishop 
of  Bamberg  was  elected  and  took  the  name  Clement  II.  Gregory  was  taken 
to  Germany  as  a  prisoner  and  died  about  1048. 


THE  POPE  NOT  THE   CHURCH'S  HEAD     127 

it  is  plain  in  the  case  of  Agnes,  who  was  called  John  Angli- 
cus,^  and  of  her  Castrensis,  5  :3,^  writes:  "A  certain  woman 
sat  in  the  papal  chair  two  years  and  five  months,  following 
Leo.  She  is  said  to  have  been  a  girl,  called  Agnes,  of  the 
nation  of  Mainz,  was  led  about  by  her  paramour  in  a  man's 
dress  in  Athens  and  named  John  Anglicus.  She  made  such 
progress  in  different  studies  that,  coming  to  Rome,  she  read 
the  trivium  to  an  audience  of  great  teachers.  Finally,  elected 
pope,  she  was  with  child  by  her  paramour,  and,  as  she  was 
proceeding  from  St.  Peter's  to  the  Lateran,  she  had  the  pains 
of  labor  in  a  narrow  street  between  the  Colosseum  and  St. 
Clement's  and  gave  birth  to  a  child.  Shortly  afterward  she 
died  there  and  was  buried.  For  this  reason  it  is  said  that 
all  the  popes  avoid  this  street.  Therefore,  she  is  not  put 
down  in  the  catalogue  of  popes." 

As  for  a  heretic  occupying  the  papal  chair  we  have  an  in- 
stance in  Liberius,  of  whom  Castrensis  writes,  IV  [Rolls  Ser., 
5  :  158],  that  at  Constantius's  command  he  was  exiled  for 

'  This  story  of  the  female  Pope  Agnes  (John  VIII,  about  855),  to  which  Huss 
refers  again  and  again  in  his  writings  {Doc,  59,  61 ;  Mon.,  i  :  323,  324,  326,  336, 
339)  343)  345)  347)  ^^  ^  proof  that  the  papacy  is  not  necessary  to  the  being  of  the 
church,  was  fully  believed  in  his  time.  Gerson  used  it  to  prove  that  the  church 
may  err  in  matters  of  fact,  and  a  bust  of  Agnes  was  included  among  the  busts 
of  the  other  popes  in  the  cathedral  of  Siena  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  Dietrich  of  Nieheim  names  the  very  school  in  which  she  taught. 
So  far  as  the  story  can  be  traced,  it  was  first  told  by  Martin  von  Troppau — 
Martinus  Polonus — d.  1278,  in  his  Chronicles.  It  is  now  discredited,  and  the 
invention  regarded  as  a  satire  upon  the  rule  of  meretricious  women  over  worth- 
less and  wicked  popes  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries.  See  Mirbt,  p.  97; 
Dollinger:  Fables  ef  the  Middle  Ages. 

•  Castrensis  or  Cestrensis,  a  derivative  of  Chester — castra,  the  name  by 
which  Ranulph  Higden  was  often  quoted,  the  author  of  the  Polychronicon  or 
Universal  History,  in  seven  books,  ed.  by  Babington  and  Lumby  in  Rolls  Series, 
1865  sqq.,  9  vols.  The  ed.  gives  the  Latin  text  and  also  two  Engl,  translations, 
one  by  Trevisa  and  the  other  by  an  unknown  writer  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
Nothing  is  known  of  the  author  except  that  he  was  a  Benedictine  monk  of  St. 
Werburgh,  Chester.  He  wrote  probably  after  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. The  historical  part  begins  with  Abraham  and  continues  to  the  reign  of 
Edward  III,  13 12-13 77.  The  work  was  widely  circulated  and  the  author  gives 
a  list  of  the  writers  upon  whom  he  has  drawn.  The  quotation  in  regard  to 
Joan,  vol.  VI,  330,  Cestrensis  draws  from  Martinus  Polonus. 


128  THE  CHURCH 

three  years  because  he  wished  ^  to  favor  the  Arians.  At 
the  counsel  of  the  same  Constantius,  the  Roman  clergy  or- 
dained Felix  pope  who,  during  the  sessions  of  a  synod  con- 
demned and  cast  out  two  Arian  presbyters,  Ursacius  and 
Valens,  and  when  this  became  known,  Liberius  was  recalled 
from  exile,  and  being  wearied  by  his  long  exile  and  exhilarated 
by  the  reoccupation  of  the  papal  chair,  he  yielded  to  heret- 
ical depravity;  and  when  Felix  was  cast  down,  Liberius 
with  violence  held  the  church  of  Peter  and  Paul  and  St. 
Lawrence  so  that  the  clergy  and  priests  who  favored  Felix 
were  murdered  in  the  church,  and  Felix  was  martyred,  Li- 
berius not  preventing. 

As  for  antichrist  occupying  the  papal  chair,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  a  pope  living  contrary  to  Christ,  like  any  other 
perverted  person,  is  called  by  common  consent  antichrist. 
In  accordance  with  John  2  :  22,  many  are  become  anti- 
christs. And  the  faithful  will  not  dare  to  deny  persistently 
that  it  is  possible  for  the  man  of  sin  to  sit  in  the  holy  place. 
Of  him  the  Saviour  prophesied  when  he  said:  ''When  ye  see 
the  abomination  of  desolation,  which  is  spoken  of  by  Daniel, 

1  Voluit,  that  is,  Constantius  wished.  The  original  has  noluil  "he  would 
not,"  referring  to  Liberius's  refusal  to  consent  to  heresy.  Cestrensis  inter- 
jects the  statement,  which  Huss  omits,  that  "Constantius  recalled  Liberius 
from  exile  as  one  who  treated  the  Arians  more  mildly."  The  implication  is 
that  during  his  exile  in  Thrace  Liberius  yielded  to  heretical  views,  or  perhaps 
on  his  way  back  to  Rome,  where  he  remained  very  popular  and  whither  he 
was  recalled  by  the  emperor.  The  statement  of  the  text  represents  the 
view  which  prevailed  during  the  Middle  Ages.  Felix's  martyrdom  was  as- 
cribed to  his  being  cast  into  a  hole  where  he  died  after  languishing  for  seven 
months.  The  history  of  Liberius  and  Felix  is  a  matter  of  historical  uncertainty. 
Dollinger,  Fables  of  the  Middle  Ages,  Engl,  translation,  183-209,  pronounced 
the  mediaeval  view  an  invention  of  the  sixth  or  seventh  century,  and  rejected 
the  charge  of  heresy  made  against  Liberius  as  well  as  the  story  of  Felix's  mar- 
tyrdom. Liberius  was  pope  352-366  with  an  interim  of  three  years.  Felix 
died  a  natural  death,  365.  It  is  diflScult  to  exempt  Liberius  altogether  from  the 
taint  of  heresy  in  spite  of  Sozomen's  spirited  denial  of  it.  Athanasius  implies 
that  he  was  a  heretic  and  Jerome  distinctly  called  him  one.  In  a  document, 
whose  genuineness  is  questioned,  Hilary  anathematized  the  unfortunate  pon- 
tiff. Felix's  name  was  included  in  the  Breviary  from  which  it  has  been  ex- 
punged and  his  bust  was  given  a  place  in  the  Siena  cathedral  among  other 
popes. 


THE  POPE  NOT  THE  CHURCH'S  HEAD      129 

standing  in  the  holy  place,"  Matt.  24  :  15.  The  apostle  also 
says:  "Let  no  man  beguile  you  in  any  wise,  for  it  will  not 
be  except  the  falling  away  come  first  and  the  man  of  sin  be 
revealed,  the  son  of  perdition;  he  that  opposeth  and  exalteth 
himself  against  all  that  is  called  God  or  is  worshipped;  so 
that  he  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God  setting  himself  forth 
as  God,"  II  Thess.  2  :  3-4.  And  it  is  apparent  from  the 
Chronicles  how  the  papal  dignity  has  sunk. 

For  the  emperor  Constantine,  about  A.  D.  301,  thought 
and  commanded  that  the  highest  bishop  should  be  called  by 
all  pope  and  in  his  dotation  that  name  also  sprang  up.  The 
emperor  Phocas  likewise,  about  the  year  600,  at  the  instance 
of  the  clergy  confirmed  this  same  thing,  as  may  be  read  in 
his  Annals.  Therefore,  Castrensis,  4  :  14,  describes  how  the 
excellency  of  the  Roman  empire  helped  the  papacy  of  the 
Roman  pontiff  above  others.  He  says:  "The  Nicene  coun- 
cil conferred  this  prerogative  on  the  Roman  pontiff,  that, 
just  as  Augustus  had  rank  above  other  kings,  so  the  Roman 
pontiff  should  be  held  as  bishop,  and  the  pope  be  called  chief 
father — principalis  pater. ' '  ^  The  origin,  however,  of  this  name 
and  this  excellency  is  to  be  found  in  the  dotation  of  the 
church,  as  is  indicated  in  the  Decretum,  96,  Dist.  Constant.'^ 

1  Rolls  Series,  5  :  140,  Castrensis  prefaces  the  words  quoted  by  Huss  with 
the  statement  that  "in  the  early  church  there  were  only  three  patriarchs,  corre- 
sponding to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  namely  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and 
Rome.  Peter  constructed  these  three  seats  by  his  occupancy — sua  sessione. 
Over  two  of  them  he  himself  was  president  and  his  disciple,  Mark,  occupied  the 
third,  Alexandria."  Of  course  the  Nicene  council,  325,  did  no  such  thing  but 
in  its  sixth  canon  makes  the  three  bishops  of  Alexandria,  Rome,  and  Antioch, 
each  supreme  in  his  own  diocese.     See  Schaff,  Ch.  Hist.,  Ill,  275. 

'  Constantine's  donation  was  the  reputed  gift  to  Pope  Sylvester  of  dominion 
over  the  city  of  Rome,  Italy,  and  all  the  provinces,  cities,  and  territories  of 
the  West.  The  gift,  it  was  alleged,  was  made  out  of  gratitude  to  Sylvester  for 
having  healed  the  emperor  of  leprosy  and  baptized  him.  In  view  of  Sylvester's 
healing  power,  Constantine  was  assured  of  the  divine  power  given  to  Peter 
and  his  successors.  In  addition,  the  emperor  also  acknowledged  the  Roman 
bishop  as  universal  pope  and  his  supremacy  over  Antioch,  Alexandria,  Jeru- 
salem and  Constantinople,  called  him  the  vicar  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  as  Huss 
notes,  Mon.,  i  '.337,  gave  him  the  Lateran  palace.  This  colossal  fraud  of  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century  was  a  part  of  the  Pseudo-Isidorian  decretals,  and 


I30  THE  CHURCH 

These  things  being  noted,  in  order  to  remove  ambiguity, 
I  assume  that  the  doctors  in  their  writing  designate  by  the 
Roman  church  that  church  of  which  the  Saviour  said  to  Peter: 
"On  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church"  (see  Chapter  VII), 
The  holy  writers  and  the  Decretals  speak  of  it  as  the  Roman 
church,  Dist.  21:3  [Friedberg,  i  :  70],  24  :  i,  capp.  9, 14  [Fried- 
berg,  I  :  969,  970].  And  in  the  Clementines,  de  Jurejur- 
ando  [Friedberg,  2  :  1147],^  it  is  said:  "The  Romans,  princes, 
professors  of  the  orthodox  faith,  venerate  with  warm  faith 
and  pure  devotion  the  holy  Roman  church,  whose  head  is 
Christ,  our  Saviour,  and  the  Roman  pontiff,  the  Saviour's 
vicar."  2  And  in  the  Sextus  it  is  said:  "Our  alma  mater,  the 
church"  [Friedberg,  2  :  1106],  and  in  the  Extravagante  of  Boni- 
face VIII,  "The  holy  Roman  church."  And  the  same  is  true 
of  the  other  statements  made  in  other  places  and  alleged  above. 

In  regard  to  these  follies  of  the  Unlearned — indoctorum — 'I 
find  these  points:  (i)  The  pope  is  the  head  of  the  holy  Ro- 
man church.  (2)  The  college  of  cardinals  is  the  body  of  the 
holy  Roman  church.     (3)  The  pope  is  manifestly  and  truly 

was  more  influential  than  anything  else  in  building  up  the  arrogant  claims  of  the 
papacy.  Dante  denied  the  right  of  Constantine  to  grant  secular  power  to  the 
pope,  but  did  not  call  in  question  the  authenticity  of  Constantine's  gift.  He 
expressed  himself  in  the  lines: 

Ah,  Constantine,  of  how  much  ill  was  cause 
Not  thy  conversion,  but  those  rich  domains 
Which  the  first  wealthy  pope  received  of  thee. 

The  fraud  was  not  shown  up  till  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  by  Lauren- 
tius  Valla,  and  a  profound  impression  was  made  upon  Luther  in  1520  when  he 
was  informed  of  the  fraudulent  character  of  the  document  by  von  Hutten.  Of 
course,  Constantine  was  baptized  by  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia,  and  not  till  the 
very  last  year  of  his  life  and  never  had  the  leprosy.  Huss  fully  believed  the  story 
and  often  refers  to  the  donation  as  the  beginning  of  papal  wealth,  pomp,  and 
corruption.  The  text  in  Mirbt,  pp.  81-87.  Also  Boehmer's  art.  in  Herzog, 
XI,  1-7. 

*  The  first  of  these  decretals  is  by  Gelasius,  495,  and  states  that  the  "holy 
Roman  catholic  and  apostolic  church  is  placed  at  the  head  of  the  other  churches 
not  by  virtue  of  the  action  of  synods  but  by  the  appointment  of  Christ."  The 
second  is  by  Lucius,  the  third  by  Jerome  writing  to  Pope  Damasus. 

"  Clement  V,  13 14,  the  first  of  the  Avignon  popes.  He  declares  that  the  "Ro- 
man church  transferred  the  empire  from  the  Greeks  to  the  Germans." 


THE  POPE  NOT  THE   CHURCH'S  HEAD     131 

the  successor  of  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  Peter.  (4)  Cardi- 
nals are  manifest  and  true  successors  of  the  college  of  Christ's 
other  apostles.  (5)  For  the  government  of  the  church 
throughout  the  whole  world,  there  should  always  be  manifest 
and  true  successors  of  the  same  kind  in  the  office  of  the  prince 
of  the  apostles  and  in  the  office  of  Christ's  other  apostles. 
(6)  Such  successors  are  not  to  be  found  or  procured  on  the 
earth,  other  than  the  pope,  the  existing  head  and  the  college 
of  cardinals,  the  existing  body  of  the  church. 

Against  all  these  six  points,  the  argument  in  brief  runs 
thus:  all  truth  in  the  religion  of  Christ  is  to  be  followed  and 
only  that  is  truth  which  is  known  by  the  bodily  senses,  or 
discovered  by  an  infallible  intelligence,  or  made  known  through 
revelation,  or  laid  down  in  sacred  Scripture.  But  none  of 
these  six  points  is  truth  known  by  the  bodily  senses  or  dis- 
covered by  an  infallible  intelligence  or  known  through  rev- 
elation, or  laid  down  in  divine  Scripture.  Therefore,  no  one 
of  these  six  points  is  truth  in  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ 
which  is  to  be  followed.  The  major  premise  is  seen  in  what 
St.  Augustine  says,  Enchiridion,  4  [Nic.  Fathers,  3  :  238]: 
"These  things  chiefly,  yea  almost  exclusively,  are  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  religion,  and  he  who  contradicts  them  is  altogether 
a  stranger  to  the  name  of  Christ  or  he  is  a  heretic.  .  .  . 
These  things  are  to  be  defended  by  the  reason  whether  they 
start  from  the  bodily  senses  or  are  discovered  by  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  mind.  But  these  things,  which  we  have  not 
been  aware  of  through  the  bodily  senses  or  been  able  to  reach 
with  the  mind,  nor  now  are  able — these  are  beyond  doubt  to 
be  believed  on  the  testimony  of  those  witnesses  by  whom  the 
Scriptures,  deservedly  called  divine,  were  written,  because, 
assisted  with  divine  help,  they  were  able  to  see  these  things 
or  to  foresee  them  either  through  the  bodily  senses  or  through 
the  mind."     Thus  much  St.  Augustine. 

The  minor  premise,  however,  the  doctors  are  unable  to 
disprove  unless  one  of  these  six  points  should  be  revealed  to 


132  THE  CHURCH 

them  by  divine  revelation.  For  neither  by  the  bodily  senses, 
nor  by  the  reason,  nor  from  sacred  Scripture  do  these  points 
appear.  Yea,  the  doctors  in  making  these  points  authori- 
tative, so  that  they  must  be  believed,  are  seen  to  be  anath- 
ema by  the  authority  of  Augustine  himself  which  they 
adduce  in  their  writing.  If  any  one  venerate  any  other 
scriptures  than  those  which  the  catholic  church  has  received 
or  has  handed  down  to  be  held  as  authoritative,  let  him  be 
anathema.  This  is  clear  because  these  doctors  have  offered 
their  own  writings  as  authoritative  and  to  be  believed  and 
the  catholic  church  has  not  received  them  for  they  are  found 
neither  in  the  divine  law  nor  in  the  code  of  canons.  Therefore, 
it  follows  that  these  doctors  are  themselves  anathema,  and 
it  is  clear  that  religious  faith  is  not  held  by  them  so  far  as 
these  points  are  concerned  unless  they  prove  them  plainly 
or  show  them  to  be  founded  in  sacred  Scripture  or  in  clear 
reasoning,  for  Augustine  says,  Ep.  ad  Hieron.,  Decretum,  Dist. 
9  :  5  [Friedberg,  i  :  17]:  "I  have  learned  to  give  only  to 
those  writers,  who  are  now  called  canonical,  honor  and  re- 
gard, so  that  I  would  not  dare  to  believe  that  any  of  them 
erred  in  writing.  But  other  writers  I  will  read  ^  as  far  as 
they  seem  to  excel  by  sanctity  or  true  doctrine  but  I  will  not 
regard  as  true  what  they  say  because  they  have  felt  it  to  be 
true,  but  because  they  have  been  able  to  convince  me  by  other 
writers,  or  by  canonical  or  probable  reasons,  that  they  do 
not  dififer  from  the  truth." 

Inasmuch  as  these  doctors  are  not  writers  of  sacred  Scrip- 
ture—it being  granted  that  they  excel  by  their  sanctity — 
the  faithful  are  not,  therefore,  to  think  a  thing  is  true  be- 
cause they  feel  it  to  be  true  unless  by  other  writers  of  Scrip- 
ture or  for  canonical  or  probable  reasons  they  prove  that 
these  points  do  not  deviate  from  the  truth.  Then,  similarly, 
as  to  the  point  that  the  pope  is  always  and  uniformly  to  be 
regarded  as  the  head  of  the  Roman  church,  and  that  the 

1  Legem.    The  original  has  lego. 


THE  POPE  NOT  THE   CHURCH'S   HEAD     133 

church  is  the  bride  of  Christ  built  upon  Christ  "against 
which  the  gates  of  hell  cannot  prevail,"  we  must  argue  thus: 
No  pope  is  the  most  exalted  person  of  the  catholic  church 
but  Christ  himself;  therefore  no  pope  is  the  head  of  the  cath- 
olic church  besides  Christ.  The  conclusion  is  valid  reason- 
ing from  description  to  the  thing  described.  Inasmuch  as 
the  head  of  the  church  is  the  capital  or  chief  person  of  the 
church,  yea,  inasmuch  as  the  head  is  a  name  of  dignity  and 
of  office — dignity  in  view  of  predestination,  and  office  in  view 
of  the  administration  of  the  whole  church — it  follows  that  no 
one  may  reasonably  assert  of  himself  or  of  another  without 
revelation  that  he  is  the  head  of  a  particular  holy  church, 
although  if  he  live  well  he  ought  to  hope  that  he  is  a  member 
of  the  holy  catholic  church,  the  bride  of  Christ.  Therefore, 
we  should  not  contend  in  regard  to  the  reality  of  the  in- 
cumbency whether  any  one,  whoever  he  may  be,  living  with 
us  is  the  head  of  a  particular  holy  church  but,  on  the  ground 
of  his  works,  we  ought  assume  that,  if  he  is  a  superior,  ruHng 
over  a  particular  holy  church,  then  he  is  the  superior  in  that 
particular  church,  and  this  ought  to  be  assumed  of  the 
Roman  pontiff,  unless  his  works  gainsay  it,  for  the  Saviour 
said:  "Beware  of  false  prophets  which  come  unto  you  in 
sheep's  clothing  but  inwardly  they  are  ravening  wolves.  By 
their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  Matt.  7  :  15.  Also  John 
10  :  38:   "Believe  the  works." 

Likewise,  it  is  not  necessary  to  beheve  that  every  Roman 
pontiff  whatsoever  is  the  head  of  any  particular  holy  church 
unless  God  has  predestinated  him.  This  is  clear  because 
otherwise  the  Christian  faith  would  be  perverted  and  a 
Christian  would  have  to  believe  a  lie.  For  the  church  was 
deceived  in  the  case  of  Agnes,  and  for  the  sake  of  His  own, 
and  without  doubt  for  the  better,  God  permits  that  he  who 
is  chosen  pope  should  not  forthwith  and  without  reverent 
hesitancy  be  regarded  as  holy  or  such  as  he  assumes  himself 
to  be.      Hence  I  could  wish  that  the  doctors  would  openly 


134  THE  CHURCH 

teach  the  people  whether  for  the  whole  clergy  that  lived  at 
that  time  and  held  Agnes  to  be  a  true  pope,  Agnes  was  really 
the  head  of  the  church;  or,  if  the  church  was  at  that  time 
without  a  head — acephalous^ — with  only  a  nominal  pope  in 
the  church  militant  for  two  years  and  five  months,  the  faith- 
ful for  that  reason  ought  not  to  think  that  it  is  not  of  the 
substance  of  the  catholic  faith  to  believe  expressly  [beyond 
a  doubt]  that  Liberius,  Joanna,  Boniface,  Clement,  or  Urban 
were  predestinate  or  members  of  holy  mother  church — in 
view  of  the  judgment  given  above. 

In  the  same  way,  it  is  not  of  necessity  to  salvation  for 
all  Christians,  living  together,  that  they  should  believe  ex- 
pressly that  any  one  is  head  of  any  church  whatsoever  unless 
his  evangelical  life  and  works  plainly  moved  them  to  believe 
this.  For  it  would  be  all  too  much  presumption  to  affirm 
that  we  are  heads  of  any  particular  church  which  perhaps 
might  be  a  part  of  holy  mother  church.  How,  therefore,  may 
any  one  of  us  without  revelation  presume  to  assert  of  himself 
or  of  another  that  he  is  the  head,  since  it  is  said  truly,  Ecclesi- 
asticus  9,  that  "no  one  knows,  so  far  as  predestination  goes, 
whether  one  is  worthy  of  love  or  hatred." 

Likewise,  if  we  examine  in  the  light  of  the  feeling  and 
influence  with  which  we  influence  inferiors  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  examine  by  the  mirror  of  Scripture,  according  to  which 
we  should  regulate  our  whole  life,  then  we  would  choose 
rather  to  be  called  servants  and  ministers  of  the  church  than 
its  heads.  For  it  is  certain  that  if  we  do  not  fulfil  the  office 
of  a  head,  we  are  not  heads,  as  Augustine,  de  decern  chordis 
[Migne's  ed.,  38  :  75-91],  says:  that  a  perverse  husband  is 
not  the  head  of  his  wife,  much  less  is  a  prelate  of  the  church, 
who  alone  from  God  could  have  a  dignity  of  this  kind,  the 
head  of  a  particular  church  in  case  he  fall  away  from  Christ  .^ 

1  Huss  uses  the  same  Greek  word  a  number  of  times  as  in  his  Replies  to 
Palecz  and  Stanislaus,  Mon.,  i  :  320,  347. 

'■^  Not  an  exact  quotation.  The  inference  is  drawn  by  Huss.  The  Sermon  on 
the  Ten  Strings,  Psalms  144  :  9,  has  much  to  say  on  the  relation  of  husband 
and  wife  on  the  basis  of  "Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery." 


THE   POPE   NOT   THE   CHURCH'S   HEAD      135 

Therefore,  after  Augustine  has  shown  that  a  truly  Chris- 
tian wife  ought  to  mourn  over  the  fornication  of  her  hus- 
band, not  for  carnal  reasons,  but  out  of  love  and  for  the 
chastity  due  to  the  man  Christ — he  says  consequentially 
that  Christ  speaks  in  the  hearts  of  good  women,  where  the 
husband  does  not  hear,  and  he  goes  on  to  say:  "Mourn  over 
the  injuries  done  by  thy  husband,  but  do  not  imitate  them 
that  he  may  rather  imitate  you  in  that  which  is  good.  For 
in  that  wherein  he  does  wrong,  do  not  regard  him  as  thy 
head  but  me,  thy  Lord."  And  he  proves  that  this  ought  to 
be  the  case  and  says:  "If  he  is  the  head  in  that  wherein  he 
does  wrong  and  the  body  follow  its  head,  they  both  go  over 
the  precipice.  But  that  the  Christian  may  not  follow  this  bad 
head,  let  him  keep  himself  to  the  head  of  the  church,  Christ, 
to  whom  he  owes  his  chastity,  to  whom  he  yields  his  honor, 
no  longer  a  single  man  but  now  a  man  wedded  to  his  mother, 
the  church."  Blessed,  therefore,  be  the  head  of  the  church, 
Christ,  who  cannot  be  separated  from  his  bride  which  is  his 
mystical  body,  as  the  popes  have  often  been  separated  from 
the  church  by  heresy. 

But  some  of  the  aforesaid  doctors  say  that  the  pope  is 
the  bodily  head  of  the  church  militant  and  this  head  ought 
always  to  be  here  with  the  church,  but  in  this  sense  Christ 
is  not  the  bodily  head.  Here  is  meant  that  the  same  diffi- 
culty remains,  namely,  that  they  prove  the  first  part  of  the 
statement.  For  it  remains  for  them  to  prove  that  the  pope 
is  the  head  of  holy  church,  a  thing  they  have  not  proved. 
And,  before  that,  it  remains  for  them  to  prove  that  Christ 
is  not  the  bodily  head  of  the  church  mihtant,  inasmuch  as 
Christ  is  a  bodily  person,  because  the  man  who  is  the  head 
of  the  church  mihtant,  who  is  Christ,  is  present  through  all 
time  with  his  church  unto  the  consummation  of  the  age,  in 
virtue  of  his  divine  personaHty.  Similarly,  he  is  present  by 
grace,  giving  his  body  to  the  church  to  be  eaten  in  a  sacra- 
mental and  spiritual  way.     Wherefore,  is  not  that  bridegroom, 


136  THE  CHURCH 

who  is  the  head  of  the  church,  much  more  present  with  us 
than  the  pope,  who  is  removed  from  us  two  thousand  miles 
and  incapable  of  influencing  of  himself  our  feeling  or  move- 
ments? Let  it  suffice,  therefore,  to  say,  that  the  pope  may 
be  the  vicar  of  Christ  and  may  be  so  to  his  profit,  if  he  is  a 
faithful  minister  predestinated  unto  the  glory  of  the  head, 
Jesus  Christ.^ 

'The  same  thought  is  expressed  in  Reply  to  Palecz,  Mon.,  i  :  321:  "God 
gave  Christ  to  be  the  head  over  the  militant  church,  that  he  might  preside  over 
it  most  excellently  without  any  hindrance  of  local  distance  .  .  .  and  pour  into  it, 
as  the  head  pours  into  the  body,  movement,  feeling  and  a  gracious  life  whether 
there  be  no  pope  or  a  woman  be  pope." 


\o'("     cc     v-H.   V^ecxA 


CHAPTER  XIV 

WHEN    THE    CARDINALS    ARE    THE    TRUE 
SUCCESSORS    OF    THE    APOSTLES 

The  second  point  is  this:  the  college  of  cardinals  is  the 
body  of  the  holy  Roman  church.  This  being  so,  then  the 
college  of  the  cardinals  is  the  holy  Roman  church.  The 
conclusion  follows  from  Eph.  i  :  22:  "He  gave  him  to  be 
head  over  the  whole  church,  which  is  his  body."  And  as  the 
church,  which  is  Christ's  mystical  body,  cannot  be  damned, 
as  when  Christ  said,  "on  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church 
and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it" — it  follows, 
that  the  college  of  cardinals  cannot  be  damned;  and  since 
this  conclusion  is  false  or,  at  least,  for  the  doctors  doubtful, 
it  follows  that  in  this  particular  point  they  have  laid  down 
as  truth  what  is  doctrinally  false  or  doubtful.  What  is  the 
fruit  of  teaching  the  worshippers  of  Christ  in  this  way? 

Likewise,  the  college  of  cardinals  is  either  the  true  body 
of  the  holy  Roman  church  or  the  pretended  body.  Not  the 
second,  according  to  the  doctors.  Therefore  they  must  be 
the  true  body,  and  consequently  that  college  is  predestinated 
unto  glory,  and,  as  the  doctors  have  not  the  revelation  of 
predestination  with  reference  to  that  college,  it  follows,  that 
they  ought  not  to  have  affirmed  that  the  college  is  the  body 
of  the  Roman  church. 

Again,  the  body  of  the  holy  Roman  church  is  made  up 
of  all  the  predestinate,  and  the  college  by  itself  does  not  in- 
clude all  these.  The  first  part  of  this  statement  appears 
from  the  words  of  the  apostle,  who  spoke  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  predestinate:  "We  being  many  are  one  body  in 
Christ,"  Romans  12:5.     And,  showing  the  unity  of  the  body, 

137 


138  THE   CHURCH 

he  does  not  make  the  college  of  the  apostles  the  body  of  the 
church,  I  Cor.  12  :  28,  but  he  says:  "God  hath  set  some  in 
the  church,  first  apostles,  second  prophets,  thirdly  teachers, 
then  miracles,  then  gifts  of  heaUngs,"  etc.  And  making  a 
comparison  of  the  body  of  the  church  with  a  man's  natural 
body,  he  says,  "For  as  there  is  one  body  and  it  has  many 
members  but  all  the  members  of  the  body  being  many  are 
one  body:  so  also  is  Christ,"  namely,  he  is  one,  because  he  is 
one  person  with  his  holy  church,  which  is  his  body. 

The  second  part  of  this  statement,  that  all  the  predesti- 
nate are  not  that  college,  is  evident  of  itself.  Therefore,  better 
would  the  doctors  have  said  that  Christ  is  the  head  of  the 
holy  Roman  church,  and  each  of  the  predestinate  a  member 
and  that  all  together  are  the  body,  which  is  the  church,  than 
to  have  said  that  the  pope  is  the  head  of  the  Roman  church 
and  the  college  of  cardinals  the  body,  for  in  this  case  they 
would  have  agreed  with  the  apostles  and  with  the  saints 
quoted  in  Chapter  I,  especially  with  St.  Augustine,  de  doct. 
Christ.  HI  [Nic.  Fathers,  2  :  569],  who  says:  "For,  in  truth, 
that  is  not  the  Lord's  body  which  will  not  remain  with  him 
through  eternity."  ^  If,  therefore,  the  college  of  cardinals 
will  not  remain  through  eternity,  a  thing  which  is  hidden 
from  me,  how  is  it  the  body  of  the  holy  Roman  church  or 
of  Christ  ?  In  a  similar  way,  how  is  the  pope  with  the  afore- 
said college  the  holy  Roman  church  against  which  the  gates 
of  hell  cannot  prevail? 

Therefore,  we  will  speak  more  safely  with  St.  Augustine 
who.  Commentary  on  Psalms,  80  :  i  [Nic.  Fathers,  7  :  386], 
says:  "Finally  by  this  testimony,  the  confession  is  made 
both  of  Christ  and  the  vine  that  is  the  head  and  the  body, 
king  and  people,  shepherd  and  flock,  and  the  whole  mystery 

*  Augustine  here,  in  reply  to  Tychonius,  the  Donatist,  denies  that  the  "  body 
of  the  Lord"  can  be  properly  said  to  be  "twofold."  The  full  quotation  is: 
"Twofold  is  not  'a  suitable  word,  for  that  is  really  no  part  of  the  body  of  Christ 
which  will  not  be  with  him  in  eternity.'"  Hypocrites  may  be  said  to  belong 
to  the  mixed  church,  but  not  to  be  of  "the  body  of  Christ." 


THE  CARDINALS  139 

of  all  Christians,  Christ  and  the  church."  See,  how  the 
doctor  of  holy  church  shows  us  another  holy  church  with 
its  head  than  the  one  defined  of  the  [eight]  doctors  who, 
without  support  of  Scripture,  say  that  the  body  of  the  holy 
Roman  church  is  the  college  of  cardinals,  for  which  college 
it  were  well  if  its  parts  were  members  of  the  holy  church  of 
Jesus  Christ.  And  we  ought  to  think  how  St.  Augustine 
himself  feared  to  call  Christ  Lord-man,  for  the  reason  that 
this  sense  does  not  appear  in  Scripture;  therefore  much  more 
ought  we  to  fear  to  call  any  Christian  head  of  the  holy  church 
militant,  lest  Christ  perhaps  be  blasphemed,  to  whom  this 
name  is  reserved  by  the  Nicene  council,  Trinitatis  concilio, 
as  proper  to  him.  How,  then,  do  the  doctors,  without  any 
Scripture  proof,  teach  that  the  pope  is  head  of  holy  church 
and  the  college  its  body?  Since  it  is  enough  for  the  faithful 
Christian  with  inwrought  faith  and  perseverance  to  believe 
the  article  of  faith  concerning  the  catholic  church  that  it  is 
the  one  totality  of  all  the  predestinate  faithful  who  are  to 
be  saved  by  virtue  of  the  merit  of  Christ — who  is  the  head 
of  the  catholic  church — it  is  not  permissible  for  us  expressly 
to  descend  to  any  particular  vicar  whom  the  Christian 
might  recognize  as  the  chief — capitalis.  For  many  have  been 
saved  in  Judea,  Asia  and  Ethiopia  who  have  believed  in 
Christ,  following  the  teaching  of  the  apostles,  and  who  did 
not  expressly  recognize  Peter,  nay,  or  expressly  believe  what 
concerns  Peter,  just  as  they  did  not  hear  anything  about 
him. 

The  third  point  is  this:  the  pope  is  the  manifest  and 
true  successor  of  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  and  about  this 
I  have  treated  in  Chapter  VII  near  the  close.  It  is,  however, 
to  be  said  again  that  the  doctors  do  not  prove  this  point. 
And,  as  the  vicar  ought  to  occupy  the  place  of  his  superior 
from  whom  he  has  received  vicarial  power,  therefore,  oc- 
cupying his  place,  he  ought  more  directly  to  be  conformed 
to  him  in  his  works  or  otherwise  the  power  would  be  frus- 


I40  THE  CHURCH 

trated  in  him.  From  this,  then,  the  argument  is  constructed: 
a  man  is  the  vicar  of  the  person  whose  place  he  fills  and 
from  whom,  in  a  legitimate  way,  he  receives  procuratorial 
power  [delegated  as  with  the  Roman  procurators].  But  no  one 
truly  occupies  the  place  of  Christ,  or  Peter,  unless  he  fol- 
lows him  in  his  life,  for  no  other  kind  of  following  is  more 
fitting;  nor  does  any  one  otherwise  receive  procuratorial 
power.  The  requirements,  therefore,  of  the  vicarial  office 
are  conformity  of  life  and  authority  from  him  who  appoints. 
If,  therefore,  the  pope  is  a  most  humble  man,  depending 
little  upon  mundane  honors  and  the  gain  of  this  world,  if 
he  is  a  shepherd  deriving  his  name  from  the  pasturage  of 
God's  Word,  of  which  pasturage  the  Lord  said  to  Peter, 
"Pasture  my  sheep,"  John  21  :  17,  if  he  pasture  the  sheep 
by  the  Word  and  the  example  of  his  virtues  being  made  en- 
sample  of  the  flock  with  his  whole  heart,  as  Peter  says,  I 
Peter  5  :  3,  if  he  is  meek,  patient,  chaste,  laboring  anxiously 
and  solicitously  in  the  service  of  the  church,  esteeming  all 
temporal  things  as  dung — then,  without  doubt,  is  he  the  true 
vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  manifest  to  God  and  men,  so  far  as  the 
judgment  of  the  outward  senses  can  determine.  But,  if  he 
lives  at  discord  with  these  virtues — for  there  is  "no  com- 
munion^ between  Christ  and  Belial,"  H  Cor.  6  :  15,  and,  as 
Christ  himself  said,  "He  that  is  not  with  me  is  against," 
Matt.  12  :  30 — how  can  he  be  the  true  and  manifest  vicar 
of  Christ  or  of  Peter  and  not  rather  the  vicar  of  antichrist, 
seeing  he  resists  Christ  in  morals  and  in  life? 

Therefore,  when  Peter  was  opposed  to  Christ  in  will  and 
words  and  after  Christ  had  promised  him  the  keys,  Christ 
called  Peter  Satan,  that  is,  "adversary,"  and  said:  "Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan,  thou  art  an  ofifence  to  me,  because 
thou  savorest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God  but  the  things 
that  be  of  men."  If,  therefore,  Peter,  chosen  to  be  Christ's 
first  vicar  by  Christ  and  deputed  to  serve  the  church  in 

'  Communicatio.    The  Vulgate :  convenlio. 


THE   CARDINALS  141 

spiritual  matters,  was  called  by  Christ  Satan,  Peter  out  of 
affectionate  love  having  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  submit- 
ting to  the  sentence  of  death,  why  should  not  another  one, 
more  opposed  to  Christ  in  his  life,  not  be  called  Satan  and 
consequently  antichrist  or  antichrist's  vicar  or  antichrist's 
chief  minister?  Hence,  St.  Bernard,  Com.  on  Canticles, 
says:  "Evil  has  gone  out  from  thy  elder  judges,  who  seem 
to  be  ruling  the  poeple.  Alas !  alas !  O  Lord  God,  for  they 
were  the  first  to  persecute  thee  who  seemed  to  hold  primacy 
in  thy  church  and  to  rule  the  spiritual  princedom.  Likewise 
all  friends  are  all  foes,  all  cHents  are  all  adversaries,  all  ser- 
vants are  no  peaceful  men,  all  who  seek  the  things  which  are 
their  own,  they  are  ministers  of  Christ  and  yet  the  servants 
of  antichrist."  See  how  plainly  that  holy  man  brings  out 
that  bad  prelates  are  in  pretence  friends,  servants,  and  minis- 
ters of  Christ.  But  in  fact  they  are  the  foes  of  Christ  and  the 
servants  of  antichrist. 

Likewise,  Augustine,  Com.  on  John,  also  Decretum,  8  :  i 
[Nic.  Fathers,  7  :  446;  Friedberg,  i  :  596],  pointing  out  who 
are  not  true  shepherds,  but  mercenaries,  says:  "There  are 
some  superiors  in  the  church  about  whom  the  apostle  Paul 
says:  'they  seek  their  own  things  and  not  the  things  of  Christ.' 
What  is  it,  therefore,  'to  seek  one's  own  things'?  Not  to 
love  Christ  freely,  not  to  seek  God  for  His  own  sake,^  to 
follow  after  temporal  comforts,  to  heap  up  riches,  to  hanker 
after  honors  from  men.  When  these  are  loved  by  the  supe- 
rior, and  when  God  is  served  for  such  things,  whoever  he 
may  be  that  serves,  he  is  a  mercenary  and  he  does  not  count 
himself  among  the  children."  For  about  such  the  Lord  also 
says:  'Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  they  received  their  re- 
ward.' Hence  the  same  Augustine  says:  "That  just  as  Peter, 
the  apostle,  was  the  type  of  all  good  men  and  especially  good 
bishops,  so  Judas  represented  all  bad  men,  especially  bad 
priests." 

*  Propter  se  ipsum  ;  the  original,  propter  Deum. 


142  THE  CHURCH 

Therefore,  commenting  on  John  12  :  8  [Nic.  Fathers, 
7  :  283],  "The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you,  but  me  ye 
have  not  always,"  he  says:  "What  does  he  wish  for  himself? 
How  is  this  to  be  understood, — 'me  ye  have  not  always'? 
Do  not  fear.  The  words  were  spoken  to  Judas.  Why, 
therefore,  did  Christ  not  say,  'thou  hast,'  but  'ye  have'? 
Because  there  is  not  one  Judas  or  one  wicked  person,  but 
Judas  represents  the  body  of  the  wicked,  just  as  Peter  rep- 
resents the  body  of  the  good."  Further  on  he  says:  "In 
Peter's  person  the  good  in  the  church  are  represented;  in 
Judas's  person  the  evil  in  the  church  are  represented.  To 
them  it  was  said:  'But  me  ye  have  not  always.'  What  is 
this  'not  always,'  and  what  is  this  'always'?  If  thou  art 
good,  if  thou  belongest  to  the  body  which  Peter  represents, 
then  thou  hast  Christ  both  now  and  in  the  future — now, 
by  faith;  now,  figuratively;  now,  by  the  sacrament  of  bap- 
tism; now,  by  the  food  and  drink  of  the  altar.  Thou  hast 
Christ  now,  and  thou  hast  him  always,  because  when  thou 
goest  hence  thou  wilt  go  to  him  who  said  to  the  thief :  '  To-day 
thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise.'  But  if  thou  livest  wick- 
edly, thou  seemest  now  to  have  Christ  because  thou  enter- 
est  into  the  church,  signest  thyself  with  the  sign  of  Christ, 
art  baptized  with  the  baptism  of  Christ,  dost  mingle  with  the 
members  of  Christ — now  thou  hast  Christ,  but  on  account 
of  wicked  living  thou  wilt  not  always  have  him."  Thus 
much  Augustine,  who  shows  that  Peter's  true  vicars  are  the 
righteous  and  Judas  Iscariot's  vicars  are  the  wicked,  and 
especially  wicked  priests,  hypocrites  and  blasphemers.  And 
he  shows  the  same  when  he  comments  upon  Psalm  109: 
"Deus  laudem  meam  ne  tacueris."  And  Ambrose,  22  :  20 
[Friedberg,  i  :  888],  says:  "Beware,  my  brethren,  against  lies.^ 
.  .  .  For  it  is  a  lie  to  say  one  is  a  Christian  and  not  to  do 
the  works  of  Christ.     It  is  a  lie  to  profess  oneself  to  be  a 

'Ambrose  continues:    "For  all  who  love  a  lie  are  children  of  the  devil. 
For  a  lie  is  found  not  only  in  false  words  but  also  in  hypocritical  works." 


THE  CARDINALS  143 

bishop,  a  priest,  or  a  cleric,  and  to  act  at  variance  with  this 
order."  Again,  2  :  i  [Friedberg,  i  :  438].  All  prelates  are 
not  to  be  esteemed  as  prelates.  Not  the  name  makes  the 
bishop,  but  the  life.  And,  Dist.  IV  sub  rubrica,  under  *'He 
is  not  truly  a  priest  who  is  called  a  priest,"  Chrysostom  also 
says  [Dist.  40  :  12;  Friedberg,  i  :  147]:  "There  are  many 
priests  and  few  priests." 

From  these  and  other  sayings  it  is  evident  that  no  pope 
is  the  manifest  and  true  successor  of  Peter,  the  prince  of  the 
apostles,  if  in  morals  he  lives  at  variance  with  the  principles 
of  Peter;  and,  if  he  is  avaricious,  then  is  he  the  vicar  of  Judas, 
who  loved  the  reward  of  iniquity  and  sold  Jesus  Christ.  And 
by  the  same  kind  of  proof  the  cardinals  are  not  the  manifest 
and  true  successors  of  the  college  of  Christ's  other  apostles 
unless  the  cardinals  live  after  the  manner  of  the  apostles 
and  keep  the  commands  and  counsels  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
For,  if  they  climb  up  by  another  way  than  by  the  door  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  then  are  they  thieves  and  robbers, 
Just  as  the  Saviour  himself  declared  when  of  all  such  he  said: 
"All  that  came  before  me  are  thieves  and  robbers,"  John 
ID  :  8.  Whosoever,  therefore,  say  that  they  are  Christ's  true 
and  manifest  vicars,  knowing  that  they  are  living  in  sin,  lie. 
Therefore  the  apostle  says:  How  "do  they  of  the  synagogue 
of  Satan  say  that  they  are  Jews,  and  they  are  not,  but  lie"? 
[Rev.  2  :  9.] 

Hence,  if  the  cardinals  heap  up  to  themselves  ecclesias- 
tical livings  and  barter  with  them  and  take  money  for  their 
sale  either  themselves  or  through  others,  and  so  devour  and 
consume  in  luxurious  living  the  goods  of  the  poor,  and  if 
they  do  not  do  miracles  or  preach  the  Word  of  God  to  the 
people  or  pray  sincerely  or  fill  the  place  of  deacons — whom 
the  apostles  appointed,  Acts  6 — by  not  performing  their  du- 
ties or  living  their  lives — in  how  far,  I  ask,  are  they  the  vicars 
of  the  apostles?  In  this  that  they  heap  up  livings  or,  like 
Gehazi,  seize  upon  gifts,  or  because  very  early  in  the  morn- 


144  THE  CHURCH 

ing  they  come  into  the  pope's  presence  clad  in  the  most 
splendid  apparel,  and  attended  with  the  most  sumptuous 
retinue  of  horsemen — thus  attended,  not  on  account  of  the 
distance  of  place  or  difficulty  of  the  journey  but  to  show 
their  magnificence  to  the  world  and  their  contrariety  to 
Christ  and  his  apostles,  who  went  about  among  the  towns, 
cities,  and  castles  clad  in  humble  garb,  on  foot,  preaching — 
evangelizando — the  kingdom  of  God.^ 

Nor  in  this  are  they  the  true  and  manifest  vicars  of  Christ 
that  they  permit  themselves  to  be  adored  of  men  on  bended 
knee  or  that  they  surround  the  pope  with  visitors  from 
abroad,  that  while  he  sits  on  high,  splendidly  apparelled 
even  down  to  his  feet,  yea  and  far  beyond  his  chair,  they 
with  bended  knee  humbly  seek  the  kisses  of  his  blessed  feet, 
as  if  the  sanctity  of  this  father,  the  pope,  would  descend  even 
to  the  place  where  his  foot  is  planted?  But  do  they,  them- 
selves weak,  receive  from  those  feet  health?  For  Christ 
suffered  his  feet  to  be  kissed  by  a  woman,  but  did  not  pro- 
trude them,  as  appears  in  Luke  7,  because  sincere  contrition 
and  the  care  and  washing  of  Christ's  feet,  that  is,  of  the 
poor,  deletes  the  sins  of  pilgrims.  But  that  kiss  profits  no 
part  [of  the  body]  unto  salvation.  For,  he  who  kisses,  moved 
by  guilty  greed  or  fear  or  flattery,  or  deceived  by  bUnd  de- 
votion, will  be  altogether  chargeable  with  guilt,  he  bending 
his  knees  and  approaching  the  pope's  feet^  more  solicitously 
and  reverentially  than  he  would  do  before  the  sacrament 

'  In  his  Postilla,  Doc,  729  Huss  said:  "Jesus  went  about  preaching  on  foot, 
and  did  not  drive  about  in  a  splendid  carriage  as  nowadays  our  priests  drive. 
I,  alas,  also  drive  about  .  .  .  and  I  do  not  know  whether  it  will  be  a  sufiScient 
excuse  in  the  future  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  cover  the  long  distances  on 
foot  and  with  sufl&cient  speed." 

-  The  emperor  Caligula  seems  to  have  been  the  first  Roman  emperor  to 
introduce  the  custom  of  kissing  the  foot  from  the  East.  The  pope  wears  a 
red  slipper,  but  when  the  custom  of  kissing  his  feet  entered  is  not  known.  In 
the  Address  to  the  German  Nobility  Luther  denounced  the  custom  whereby 
*a  poor  sinful  man  suffers  his  foot  to  be  kissed  by  one  who  may  be  a  hundred 
times  better  than  he.'  In  chapter  XXI  Huss  again  refers  to  the  custom  of 
adoring  the  pope. 


THE  CARDINALS  145 

of  the  body  of  the  Saviour.  But  in  allowing  himself  to 
be  kissed  the  pope  is  altogether  guilty,  because  he  cannot 
make  himself  equal  to  Christ  so  as  to  deserve  such  honor. 
And  if  he  may  equal  Christ  (though  he  will  not  quickly 
equal  the  apostles),  yet  should  he  not  exceed  in  honors  of 
this  kind  what  they  received,  unto  the  increase  of  his  merit, 
and  by  a  similar  confession,  for  the  profit  of  the  people  doing 
honor.  Therefore,  they,  like  Christ,  began  to  do  good  by 
excelling  in  good  works  and  not  by  receiving  kisses,  given  as 
unto  God.  For  they  despised  mundane  honors  and  for  that 
reason  forbade  men  to  make  genuflections  in  their  presence. 
For  they  kept  in  memory  Christ's  words:  ''When  thou  art 
bidden  to  a  marriage  feast,  sit  not  down  in  the  chief  seat, 
lest  a  more  honorable  man  than  thou  be  bidden  of  him,  and 
he  that  bade  thee  and  him  shall  come  to  thee  and  say.  Friend, 
give  this  man  place;  and  then  thou  shalt  begin  with  shame 
to  take  the  lowest  place,"  Luke  14  :  8,  9. 

But  it  is  certain  from  the  sayings  of  the  saints  that  Christ 
is  speaking  of  the  spiritual  and  not  the  corporal  vocation, 
place  and  meal,  for  by  the  wedding  is  intended  the  marriage 
of  Christ  and  the  church  which  will  be  fulfilled  perpetually 
in  the  last  supper.  To  this  marriage  feast  many  are  called, 
and  few  are  chosen,  as  Christ  said,  Matt.  22  :  14,  but  he 
sits  in  the  lowest  place  who,  with  a  good  heart,  esteems  him- 
self the  least  of  the  elect,  just  as  did  Christ's  apostle,  who 
saw  into  the  secret  things  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man 
to  utter  and  esteemed  himself  the  least  of  the  apostles.  If, 
therefore,  the  pope  esteems  himself  to  be  the  most  holy  father, 
or  consents  to  receive  from  his  inferiors  the  address,  "Most 
Holy  Father,"  does  he  not  in  presumption  choose  the  first 
place?  Therefore,  if  he  had  humility,  such  as  St.  Gregory 
had,  he  would  with  all  haste  put  a  stop  to  this  style  of  ad- 
dress or  seek  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  Not  because  he  holds  the 
place  of  Peter  and  because  he  holds  the  great  dotation,  is  he 
most  holy — sanciissimus — but  if  he  follows  Christ  in  humiUty, , 


146  THE   CHURCH 

in  waging  warfare,  in  patience  and  toil,  and  out  of  the  great 
bond  of  love,  then  is  he  holy.  But  far  be  it  that  he  is  most 
holy,  because  then  he  would  be  God  almighty  and  conse- 
quently not  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  Christ  did  not 
want  the  woman  to  kiss  his  feet  after  the  resurrection — im- 
mortal and  undoubtedly  blessed — so  that  he  keep  from  blas- 
phemous presumption  the  miserable  persons  who,  for  the 
time,  falsely  assume  that  they  are  Christ's  vicars.  But  the 
feet  of  Christ  and  those  ascending  with  Christ  are  blessed 
and  not  the  food  of  worms,  a  putrid  member  and  a  fetid  sweat 
of  mundane  fluids.  By  these  things  we  should  be  persuaded 
in  regard  to  the  fourth  point — namely,  that  the  cardinals 
are  the  manifest  and  true  successors  of  the  apostles,  that  it 
does  not  contain  the  truth.  For  by  the  fruits  which  it  bears, 
is  the  tree  known. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  CHURCH  MAY  BE  RULED  WITHOUT  POPE 
AND  CARDINALS 

The  fifth  point  is  this:  ''  for  the  government  of  the  church 
throughout  the  whole  world,  there  ought  always  to  be  car- 
dinals as  the  manifest  and  true  successors  in  the  office  of 
Peter,  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  and  of  Christ's  other  apos- 
tles." Here  that  word  "ought"  does  not  mean  opportuneness 
— opportunitas — ^on  the  side  of  God  who  rules  the  church, 
and  who  is  able  to  rule  the  church  scattered  throughout  the 
world,  without  such  successors,  nor  does  it  mean  fitness  on 
the  side  of  the  church  which  can  be  properly  ruled  by  holy 
priests,  even  if  those  twelve  cardinals  were  removed;  just 
as  it  was  ruled  for  three  hundred  years  and  more  after  Christ's 
ascension,  unless  perhaps  it  be  said  that  that  word  ''ought" 
means  necessity,  a  thing  which  the  Saviour  indicated  when  he 
said:  ''It  must  needs  be  that  offences  come,  but  woe  to  that 
man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh,"  Matt.  i8  :  7.  For  these 
words  the  Saviour  spoke  after  his  rebuke  of  his  disciples  who 
asked  who  was  the  greatest  among  them,  when  he  commanded 
them,  saying:  "Verily  I  say  unto  you,  except  ye  turn  and 
become  as  Uttle  children,  ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  Matt.  18  :  3.  And,  that  they  might 
not  offend  by  pride  those  who  believed  in  Christ,  he  added: 
"Whoso  shall  cause  one  of  these  little  ones  that  believe  on 
me  to  stumble,  it  is  profitable  for  him  that  a  great  millstone 
should  be  hanged  about  his  neck,  and  that  he  should  be  sunk 
in  the  depth  of  the  sea,"  Matt.  18  :  6. 

Commenting  on  these  words,  St.  Gregory,  Pastoral  Rule 
I  :  2  [Nic.  Fathers,  2d  Ser.,  12  :  2],  says:  "Pastors,  perverse 
in  their  lives,  impugn  in  their  morals  what  they  preach  in 

147 


148  THE   CHURCH 

words.  Therefore,  it  happens  when  a  pastor  walks  along 
steep  places,  the  flock  follows  him  to  the  precipice";  because, 
when  laymen  have  learned  the  sayings  of  prelates,  they  are 
perverted  by  their  works.  *' Hence,  it  is  written  by  the 
prophet:  'Wicked  priests  are  the  cause  of  the  people's  down- 
fall,' and  of  these  the  Lord  said  through  the  prophet:  'They 
are  made  to  be  a  stumbling-block  of  iniquity  to  the  house 
of  Israel '  [Hosea  5:8].  For  indeed  no  one  does  more  injury  in 
the  church  than  he  who  acts  perversely  and  yet  has  the  name 
and  order  of  sanctity.  For  no  one  dares  to  oppose  and  re- 
fute such  a  delinquent,  and  his  guilt  is  greatly  extended,  be- 
coming an  example,  when  the  sinner  is  honored  on  account 
of  the  reverence  paid  to  his  order.  For  the  unworthy  would 
flee  the  dangers  of  such  a  burden  of  guilt  if  they  would  care- 
fully consider  the  meaning  of  the  truth,  namely, '  Whoso  shall 
cause  one  of  these  little  ones  who  believe  on  me  to  stum- 
ble, it  is  profitable  for  him  that  a  great  millstone  should  be 
hung  about  his  neck,  and  he  should  be  sunk  in  the  depth  of 
the  sea,'  Matt.  18  :  6.  By  '  a  great  millstone '  is  meant  the 
treadmill  and  sorrow  of  the  secular  life;  and  by  the  'depth 
of  the  sea'  is  meant  utmost  damnation.  He,  therefore,  who, 
led  along  by  the  appearance  of  sanctity,  destroys  others 
either  by  word  or  example,  would  truly  be  far  better  off  if 
his  worldly  acts  under  an  external  cloak  bound  such  an  one 
to  death,  rather  than  that  the  ministries  of  his  sacred  office 
performed  in  guilt  should  show  to  others  that  he  was  change- 
able, because,  doubtless,  if  he  was  the  only  one  to  fall,  a 
more  tolerable  pain  of  hell  would  torment  him." 

That  Holy  Pope  knew  the  conditions  and  dangers  inci- 
dent to  a  prelate's  life  and  especially  incident  to  the  position 
of  the  Roman  pontiff,  inasmuch  as  his  sin  of  commission  and 
omission  would  be  a  scandal  to  the  wnole  Christian  people. 
For  it  is  said  goodness  in  a  pope  is  like  salt  for  all,  and 
badness  in  him  inures  to  the  damnation  of  persons  without 
number,  Dist.  40,  Si  Papa  [Friedberg,  i  :  146].     If,  therefore, 


THE   CHURCH  WITHOUT  POPE  149 

the  pope  and  the  cardinals  by  pompous  equipages,  resplen- 
dence of  dress,  exquisite  and  wonderful  furnishings,  by  ex- 
cessive anxiety  to  heap  up  benefices  or  money,  and  by  the 
manifest  ambition  for  honor  in  greater  measure  than  secu- 
lar laymen — -if  they  offend  those  who  believe  in  Christ — how 
is  it  that  they  always  and  necessarily  continue  to  be  essen- 
tial "  for  the  government  of  the  universal  church  as  manifest 
and  true  successors  in  the  office  of  Peter  and  Christ's  other 
apostles"?  Never  was  the  office  of  the  apostles  other  than 
one  of  following  Christ  in  good  living  and  in  teaching  the 
church,  baptizing  men,  healing  the  sick,  casting  out  devils, 
offering  up  the  sacrifice  of  Christ's  body  and  everywhere  ex- 
ercising the  power  connected  with  their  office  for  the  per- 
fecting of  the  church.  If,  therefore,  the  pope  and  his  cardi- 
nals exercise  that  office,  then  the  pope  holds  the  office  of 
Peter.  But,  if  he  with  the  cardinals  falls  away  from  it,  who 
doubts  that  he  falls  away  from  the  true  vicariate  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles? 

By  the  same  method  of  proof  the  sixth  point  is  set  forth 
which  is:  "  there  are  not  to  be  found  or  given  [by  God]  on 
earth  other  such  successors  than  the  pope,  the  present  head, 
and  the  college  of  cardinals,  the  present  body  of  the  Roman 
church."  On  this  point  I  note  in  the  first  place  that  Christ 
is  a  most  sufficient  head  as  he  proved  during  three  hundred 
years  or  more,  when  his  church  prospered  and  his  law  was 
most  efficient  for  the  closing  of  ecclesiastical  cases,  the  end 
for  which  God  gave  his  law.  For  Christ  and  his  law  did 
not  fail  for  the  governing  of  the  church,  seeing  devoted  priests 
ministered  this  law  unto  the  people,  who  followed  the  judg- 
ment of  holy  doctors,  which  judgment  they  issued  by  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  is  clear  from  the  cases  of  St. 
Augustine,  St.  Jerome,  St.  Gregory  and  St.  Ambrose,  who 
were  given  after  the  apostles'  death  to  the  church  to  teach 
her.  Hence,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  St.  Augustine  was 
more  profitable  to  the  church  than  many  popes,  and  in  mat- 


ISO  THE  CHURCH 

ters  of  doctrine  much  more  profitable  than  all  the  cardinals, 
from  the  first  cardinals  down  to  those  now  in  office.  For,  in 
the  government  of  the  church,  he  knew  the  Scriptures  of 
Christ  better  than  they  and  also  defined  the  nature  of  the 
catholic  faith  better  by  clearing  the  church  of  heretical  errors 
and  correcting  them.  Why,  therefore,  were  those  four  doc- 
tors not  true  vicars  of  the  apostles  and  their  manifest  suc- 
cessors, nay,  even  more  true  and  reliable,  so  far  as  the  people 
go,  than  any  modern  pope  with  his  cardinals  who  shine  be- 
fore the  people  neither  by  virtue  of  a  holy  life  nor  by  doc- 
trine? Therefore,  do  I  boldly  assert  that,  if  in  any  point 
these  four  doctors  agree,  the  pope  and  his  cardinals  may 
not  lawfully  declare  the  opposite  as  the  faith  of  the  people. 
And  the  same  is  true  of  other  saints,  such  as  John  Chrysos- 
tom,  John  of  Damascus  and  Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  who, 
taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  illuminated  the  church  of  Christ 
by  their  knowledge  and  piety. 

Against  this  point  it  is  argued  chiefly  in  this  way:  God  is 
omnipotent,  therefore,  God  may  give  other  true  successors  of 
the  apostles  than  are  the  pope  and  the  cardinals.  Therefore, 
other  true  successors  of  the  apostles  can  be  found  or  given 
who  are  not  the  pope  or  the  cardinals.  Hence  that  [sixth] 
point  is  false  and  the  first  consequence  is  proved.  For,  if 
God  is  not  able  to  give  other  true  successors,  than  are  the 
pope  and  the  cardinals,  it  follows  that  the  power  of  Caesar, 
a  man  and  not  God,  in  setting  up  the  pope  and  cardinals 
limited  God's  power,  a  thing  which  is  false.  Hence  the  con- 
sequence is  proven,  for  Constantine,  the  Caesar,  three  hun- 
dred years  after  Christ,  instituted  the  pope;  because  the 
Roman  pontiff  was  an  associate  of  other  pontiffs  until  the 
donation  of  Caesar  by  whose  authority  the  pope  began  to 
rule  as  head.  Hence  the  Decretum,  Dist.  96  :  14  [Friedberg, 
I  :  342  55.],^  which  out  of  reverence  we  cannot  deny,  thus 

*  Huss's  text  gives  the  citation  wrongly  as  Dist.  98.     Huss  quotes  a  small 
part  of  the  spurious  decretal  of  Pope  Gelasius.     The  preceding  decretal  con- 


THE   CHURCH  WITHOUT  POPE  151 

speaks:  "The  emperor  Constantine  on  the  fourth  day  after 
his  baptism  conferred  on  the  pontiff  the  grant — privilegium 
— of  the  Roman  church  that  the  pontiffs  might  have  head- 
ship in  all  the  earth,  as  judges  over  the  king."  In  this  grant, 
this  among  other  things  is  read:  "We  have  bestowed  upon 
him  power  and  ability  and  imperial  honor,  seeing  that  he  is 
thus  to  hold  the  government  over  the  four  sees,  Alexandria, 
Antioch,  Jerusalem  and  Constantinople,  and  is  the  highest 
ruler  over  all  priests  in  the  whole  world,"  etc.  See  how  the 
institution  and  pre-eminence  of  the  pope  emanated  from 
Caesar's  power,  which,  however,  cannot  limit  God's  power. 
For  this  reason  later  pontiffs,  fearing  that  they  might  lose 
their  pre-eminence,  sought  confirmation  from  other  Caesars, 
as  the  Decretum,  Dist.  63  [Friedberg,  i  :  244],  says:  "I,  Lewis, 
Roman  emperor,  Augustus,  do  decree  and  bestow  by  this  our 
act  of  confirmation  upon  thee,  blessed  Peter,  prince  of  the 
apostles,  and  through  thee  upon  thy  vicar.  Lord  Pascal,  su- 
preme pontiff,  and  upon  thy  successors  forever,  even  as  by  our 
[your]  predecessors  ye  have  up  to  this  time  held  in  our  [your] 
power  and  gift  alone  and  controlled  the  Roman  state."  ^ 

But  there  need  be  no  anxiety  over  this  grant  of  words 
when  Caesar  says:  "I,  Lewis,  concede  unto  thee,  blessed 
Peter."  Never  did  Peter,  who  at  that  time  was  already  in 
possession  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  stand  in  need  of  civil 
possession  over  Rome,  and  never  was  Lewis  greater  than 
Peter  and  more  truly  in  possession  than  Peter.  Would  that 
Peter,  if  it  had  been  God's  will,  had  said:    I  do  not  accept 

tains  the  express  assertion  of  Constantine's  donation:  "The  emperor  Constan- 
tine bestowed  upon  the  apostolic  see  the  crown  and  all  royal  authority  in  the 
city  of  Rome  and  in  Italy  and  in  the  regions  of  the  West." 

'  Huss's  text  departs  from  the  original  substituting  nostris  for  vestris,  and 
nostra  for  veslra,  the  original  reading,  "even  as  by  your  predecessors  ye  have 
held  in  your  own  power  and  gift  and  disposed  of  the  city  of  Rome  with  its 
duchy  and  all  the  suburban  regions  and  towns,  its  hilly  territory,  and  its  sea- 
coast  line  and  harbors  and  all  cities,  strongholds,  walled  towns  and  villas  in  the 
regions  of  Tuscany,"  etc.  This  pact  between  Lewis  and  Pascal,  817-824,  is 
first  found  in  Anselm  of  Lucca,  d.  1073,  and  is  deemed  altogether  spurious  or  at 
least  largely  interpolated. 


152  THE  CHURCH 

thy  grant  because,  when  I  was  Roman  bishop,  I  had  already 
forsaken  all  and  did  not  crave  from  Nero  dominion  over  Rome; 
nor  do  I  stand  in  need  of  it.  And  I  see  that  it  greatly  hurts 
my  descendants,  for  it  hinders  them  in  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  and  in  salutary  prayer  and  in  the  performance  of  God's 
counsels  and  commandments  and  makes  many  of  them  proud 
and  arrogant.  Since,  therefore,  the  good — optimus — God  is 
able  to  take  away  the  grant — privilegium — made  by  those  em- 
perors and  to  bring  His  church  back  to  a  state  where  pontiffs 
are  on  a  parity,  even  as  it  was  before  the  donation — it  follows, 
that  God  is  able  to  give  to  His  church  other  true  successors 
than  the  pope  and  the  cardinals  that  they  may  minister  even 
as  did  the  holy  apostles. 

But  against  this  the  objection  is  brought:  "The  pope 
has  this  very  appointment  from  the  Lord,"  as  the  Decretum 
states,  Dist.  22  [Friedberg,  i  :  73],  where  Pope  Anacletus 
says:  "The  holy  Roman  church  obtained  the  primacy  not 
from  the  apostles  but  from  the  Lord  himself."  From  this 
it  follows,  that  the  pope  was  not  appointed  to  his  high  office 
by  the  emperor  or  man  but  immediately  by  God.  And  this 
is  clear  [22]  2,  3  from  the  submission  rendered  by  kings  and 
also  from  the  testimony  of  doctors  where  they  treat  of  the 
pope's  authority. 

As  for  the  first  statement,  it  is  to  be  laid  down  that  that 
pope,  Anacletus,  understood  by  the  holy  Roman  church  not 
the  basilica  of  stone  or  wood,  but  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul, 
and  the  other  saints  who  dwelt  in  that  place.  For  this  rea- 
son, in  this  same  decretal,  he  says,  that  Peter  and  Paul  were 
associates  in  the  city  of  Rome,  wherefore  it  is  said  figura- 
tively that  he  obtained  the  primacy. 

In  regard  to  the  second  statement  it  is  to  be  laid  down  that 
he  is  speaking  about  the  primacy  over  men  from  God's  stand- 
point, by  virtue  of  the  primacy  of  virtues  and  in  view  of  the 
edification  of  the  church  and  not  about  a  primacy  of  tem- 
poral riches  or  human  glory — a  primacy  which  the  apostles 


THE   CHURCH  WITHOUT  POPE  153 

of  Christ  spurned.  It  is  thus  clear  how  weak  the  argumen- 
tation is:  namely,  the  Roman  church  obtained  the  primacy 
not  from  the  apostles,  but  from  the  Lord  himself.  For  this 
reason  every  Roman  pontiflf  ought  to  have  pre-eminence  in 
the  matter  of  mundane  glory  and  have  secular  rule,  when, 
in  fact,  it  ought  rather  to  follow  from  the  Decretum  that 
the  Roman  pontiff  is  charged  with  serving  the  people  not 
by  ruling  for  his  own  ends,  or  suspending  the  people,  but 
by  praying  efficiently  for  the  people,  as  according  to  the 
Decretum  [Friedberg,  i  :  74]  Paul  did,  Romans  i  :  8.  He 
says:  "A  prayer  may  be  poured  out  for  all  to  the  Lord  of 
all  the  saints,  and  in  these  words  Paul,  most  blessed,  prom- 
ised the  Romans  over  his  own  signature,  *God  is  my  wit- 
ness whom  I  serve  in  my  spirit,  in  the  Gospel  of  his  Son,  how 
unceasingly  I  make  mention  of  you  always  in  my  prayers.'" 
From  this  decretal  it  is  seen  that  Pope  Anacletus  did  not 
intend  to  affirm  that  he  himself  was  to  have  civil  rule  over 
all  others  or  hold  a  primacy  of  government  over  all  other 
persons  of  the  church  militant.  Because,  in  thus  seeking 
his  own  glory  he  would  show  most  clearly  the  mark  of  anti- 
christ. John  5  :  41  sqq.  Yea,  even  Boniface  VIII,  in  his 
bull  Unam  sanctam,  did  not  dare  expressly  to  affirm  this,  for 
then  he  alone  would  have  borne  witness  that  he  was  the 
most  holy  man  and,  in  this  case,  the  faithful  as  well  as  un- 
believers might  appositely  object  against  him:  "Thou  bear- 
est  witness  of  thyself;  thy  witness  is  not  true"  [John  5  :  31]. 
Therefore,  the  Roman  pontiffs  have  become  involved  in 
this  difficulty  by  reason  of  the  dotation  and  exaltation  de- 
rived from  Caesar,  because,  when  the  emperor  asks  them, 
whether,  in  the  matter  of  government,  they  excel  all  mortals 
living,  in  power,  primacy  and  dignity,  they  have  to  admit 
it  to  be  so,  for  otherwise,  as  they  say,  no  one  is  under  obli- 
gation to  believe  that  they  are  popes.  But  Peter  and  Paul 
did  not  make  any  such  statement  about  themselves,  for  they 
did  not  have  any  power  given  them  by  Caesar.     For  this 


154  THE  CHURCH 

reason,  Paul  truly  and  humbly  made  this  confession  con- 
cerning himself:  "I  am  least  of  all  the  apostles,  who  am  not 
worthy  to  be  called  an  apostle,"  I  Cor.  15  :  9.  On  this  ac- 
count, therefore,  the  Roman  pontiff  would  not  make  such  a 
profession  if  the  imperial  dignity  were  not  in  the  way.  Where- 
fore, the  conclusion  holds  that  from  God  direct  and  not  from 
a  man — who  is  not  God — or  from  a  mere  man,  does  the 
pope  hold  the  excellency  of  his  rank.  But  he  should  make 
himself  deserving  of  that  rank  by  an  humble  demeanor  and 
without  pomp.  And  if  Caesar's  dignity  exalts  the  pope  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world  when  he  is  without  humility  and  a 
holy  life,  how  can  this  exaltation  fit  in  with  the  life  and  glory 
of  Christ,  when  antichrist  is  exalted  in  the  same  worldly 
way? 

As  for  the  second  point — the  subjection  of  the  kingdoms — 
it  is  said  that  at  first  it  was  rendered  without  the  pope's 
seeking,  but  arose  out  of  fear  of  the  emperor's  command, 
according  to  which  all  peoples  did  not  owe  subjection  to  him, 
that  he  should  have  secular  rule  over  them,  and  therefore 
that  subjection  does  not  argue  for  the  necessity  that  a  Roman 
pontiff  and  his  cardinals  govern  until  the  end  of  time. 

Thirdly,  concerning  the  testimony  of  the  doctors  who 
treat  of  the  pope's  power,  it  is  alleged,  that  all  who  thus 
magnify  the  pope's  power  and  say  that  he  can  do  without 
guilt  whatsoever  he  wills  and  that  nobody  has  the  right  to 
ask  why  he  does  this  or  that — all  these  are  mendacious  rhet- 
oricians, leading  the  people  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  astray. 
Nor  ought  such  to  be  believed  except  as  their  words  are 
founded  in  Scripture.  For  thus  the  great  doctor,  Augustine, 
often  asserted  of  himself  that  he  ought  to  be  believed  only  so 
far  as  he  had  grounded  himself  in  Scripture.  It  is  evident, 
that  God  may  give  other  successors  of  the  apostles  than  the 
pope  and  the  cardinals,  just  as  he  was  able  to  give  others  in 
the  place  of  the  pontiffs  of  the  old  law,  the  scribes  and  the 
Pharisees  with  their  traditions.     And  to  these,  who  did  not 


THE  CHURCH  WITHOUT  POPE  155 

keep  God's  law,  the  Lord  said:  "I  say  unto  you,  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  shall  be  taken  away  from  you  and  shall  be 
given  to  a  nation  bringing  forth  the  fruits  thereof,"  Matt. 
21  :  43.  These  words  the  Saviour  spoke  to  the  priests  when 
they  alone  bore  sentence  against  themselves  in  that  they  said : 
"He  will  miserably  destroy  those  wicked  men  and  will  let  out 
the  vineyard  to  other  husbandmen  who  shall  render  him  the 
fruits  in  their  seasons."  How,  therefore,  is  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  shortened  that  He  is  not  able  to  cast  out  the  pope  and 
the  cardinals  and  appoint  others  in  their  places  who,  though 
they  have  no  titles,  will  build  up  the  church  as  the  Lord  did 
with  the  apostles? 

Likewise  all  bishops  of  Christ's  church,  who  follow  Christ 
in  their  lives,  they  are  true  vicars  of  the  apostles  and  they 
are  not  pope  or  cardinals.  Therefore,  other  true  successors 
of  the  apostles  can  be  found  and  given  besides  the  pope  and 
the  cardinals.  The  consequence  is  given  with  the  minor 
premise,  and  the  first  part  of  it  is  clear  from  Decretum,  21, 
in  novo  [Friedberg,  i  :  69,  70],  where  Pope  Anacletus  says 
that  "the  rest  of  the  apostles,  by  reason  of  an  equal  fellow- 
ship [with  Christ],  received  with  Peter  honor  and  authority." 
And  later  on  he  says:  "When  they  were  deceased,  bishops 
arose  in  their  places."  And  here  the  Gloss  says,  Argumentum, 
that  "every  bishop  is  equal  in  apostolic  power  by  virtue  of 
his  ordination  and  the  ground  of  his  consecration."  The  same 
is  clear  from  Decretum,  24  :  i.  Loquitur  ad  Petrum  [Fried- 
berg, I  :  971],  where  Cyprian,  the  bishop  and  martyr,  says 
that  "after  his  resurrection  Christ  conferred  on  all  the  apos- 
tles equal  power."  This  also  appears  from  what  Jerome 
says,  Dist.  95,  Olim  [Friedberg,  i  :  332]:  "The  same  person 
formerly  was  both  presbyter  and  bishop,  before  rivalries  had 
been  started  by  the  insinuation  of  the  devil,  and  before  it 
was  said  amongst  the  people,  'I  am  of  Paul  and  I  of  ApoUos.' " 

Likewise,  all  archbishops,  patriarchs  and  bishops,  at  the 
council  of  Pisa  who  recognized,  determined  and  condemned 


156  THE   CHURCH 

Pope  Gregory  XII,  as  a  heretic/  these  were  and  now  are 
true  successors  of  the  apostles,  and  these  are  other  persons 
than  the  pope  and  cardinals.  Hence  the  sixth  point  is  false. 
The  consequence  follows  together  with  the  part  spoken  of 
above.     And  the  doctors  did  not  dare  to  deny  the  first  part. 

Likewise,  it  should  be  evangelical  wisdom  that  all  priests 
are  consecrated  and  guided  directly  by  the  one  and  only 
pontifif,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  For  this  was  so  at  the  time 
of  the  apostles,  when  the  church  grew,  and  this  statement 
accords  with  Scripture.  Therefore,  God  is  able  to  bring  his 
church  back  to  its  pristine  state  by  taking  away  the  govern- 
ment from  the  pope  and  cardinals.  And  so  it  stands  that 
others  besides  these  may  be  vicars  of  the  apostles. 

Likewise  the  designation  of  the  power  and  the  office, 
''minister  of  the  church,"  is  indicated  lest  he  wander  away, 
into  forbidden  ground,  but  no  other  one  is  indicated  save 
the  one  whom  Christ  appointed.  For,  since  Christ  is  al- 
mighty, omniscient,  and  all-merciful,  it  is  clear  that  reason 
requires  that  he  ordain  finally  and  unchangeably,  and  more 
especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  in  the  primitive  church 
the  harvest  was  larger,  and  God  ordained  more  copiously  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  ministers  as  laborers  in  the  harvest.  But 
then  he  only  ordained  deacons  and  presbyters  and  the  pres- 
byter and  the  bishop  was  the  same  person,  as  says  Jerome 
and  as  appears  from  Paul's  epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus. 
From  these  Jerome  draws  the  conclusion  in  his  letter  to  the 

^  Gregory  XII,  Angelo  Correr,  fourth  and  last  pope  of  the  Roman  line, 
1406-1415,  and  contemporary  with  Benedict  XIII,  of  the  Avignon  line,  was 
together  with  Benedict  deposed  as  a  schismatic  and  heretic  by  the  council 
of  Pisa,  June,  1409.  He  still  claimed  to  be  pope  till  141 5,  when  he  resigned 
his  office  to  the  council  of  Constance.  He  died  141 7.  Bohemia  was  true  to 
the  Roman  obedience  til!  King  Wenzel  acknowledged  the  council  of  Pisa  and 
the  pope  it  elected,  Alexander  V.  Gregory  and  his  two  predecessors  had  seemed 
to  favor  Wenzel's  rival  for  the  imperial  crown — Ruprecht.  The  archbishop 
of  Prague,  Zbjnaek,  continued  to  acknowledge  Gregory  until  the  fall  of  1409, 
and  Huss's  alleged  indorsement  of  Wenzel's  action  and  acknowledgment  of 
Alexander  was  one  of  the  immediate  causes  of  the  archbishop's  strained  rela- 
tions with  Huss. 


THE  CHURCH  WITHOUT  POPE  157 

presbyter  Evagrius,  Dist.  93,  Legimus  [Friedberg,  i  :  328],  when 
he  says:  "What  does  the  bishop  do,  except  ordain,  that  the 
presbyter  does  not  do  ?  Nor  is  the  church  of  the  city  of  Rome 
one  thing,  and  the  church  of  the  whole  world  another.  And 
the  church  of  Gaul  and  of  Britain  and  Africa  and  Persia  and 
the  Orient  and  India  and  all  the  barbarous  nations  adore 
one  Christ  and  observe  one  rule  of  truth.  If  authority  is 
sought,  the  world  is  greater  than  the  city.  Wherever  there 
may  be  a  bishop,  either  at  Rome,  Constantinople  or  Alex- 
andria, the  bishop  is  of  the  same  merit  and  of  the  same  priest- 
hood. The  power  of  riches  and  the  lowliness  of  poverty  make^ 
the  bishop  either  higher  or  lower.  Besides,"  he  says,  "  all  are 
successors  of  the  apostles."  So  we  see  that  the  pope  and  his 
cardinals  are  not  the  only  successors  of  Christ. 

The  same  is  made  to  appear  by  Bede  who,  commenting 
on  Luke  10  :  i  [Com.  on  Luke,  Migne's  ed.,  92  :  461],  ''The 
Lord  hath  appointed  seventy- two  others,"  says:  "There  is 
no  one  who  doubts  that  just  as  the  twelve  apostles  prefig- 
ured the  class  of  bishops,  so  these  seventy-two  the  class  of 
presbyters  and  bore  the  mark  of  the  second  order  of  the 
priesthood."  2  From  the  things  already  said  it  is  shown 
that  others  than  the  pope  and  cardinals  may  be  given  and 
found  as  true  successors  of  the  apostles.  Inasmuch,  there- 
fore, as  by  Christ's  appointment  in  the  days  of  the  apostles, 
two  orders  of  the  clergy  sufficed  for  his  church,  that  is,  the 
deacon  and  the  priest,  as  the  saints  say,  and  also  the  De- 
er etum,  93,  Dominus  Noster  [Friedberg,  i  :  329],  where  it  runs: 
"The  Lord  chose  apostles,  disciples,  bishops  and  presbyters, 

1  Huss's  text  omits  non  and  also  Rhegium  and  other  cities  of  whose  bishops 
Jerome  makes  mention. 

2  The  number,  seventy-two,  is  given  by  some  MSS.  and  in  the  Vulgate. 
Bede  goes  on  to  say  that  in  the  first  period  of  the  church,  as  the  Scriptures 
bear  witness,  the  terms  bishop  and  presbyter  were  used  interchangeably.  The 
Venerable  Bede,  d.  735,  the  first  English  scholar,  wrote  commentaries,  and  on 
many  subjects,  but  is  more  particularly  known  by  his  Eccles.  History,  a  history 
of  England  from  the  time  of  Caesar  to  731.  Huss  as  well  as  Wyclif  quote 
Bede  frequently. 


158  THE  CHURCH 

and  the  apostles  appointed  for  themselves  after  the  Lord's 
ascension  deacons  to  be  ministers  of  their  episcopate  and 
of  the  church,"  1— why  should  it  be  wondered  at  if  God  al- 
mighty, putting  the  pope  and  his  cardinals  to  death  and 
giving  them  also  eternal  life — in  case  they  merit  it — should 
allow  His  church  throughout  the  whole  world  to  wage  war 
with  these  same  orders  now  as  originally,  namely,  without 
the  cardinals,  and  should  ordain  that  the  church  should  be 
ruled  again  as  she  was  ruled  by  His  own  indestructible  law, 
by  giving  bishops  and  priests  who,  by  evangelizing  and  prayer 
and  the  exemplification  of  good  lives,  would  diligently  feed 
Christ's  sheep.  For  this  office  alone  was  given  to  Peter  by 
Christ,  as  appears  in  John  21. 

Hence  Augustine  notes,  Ep.  141,  ad  Paulinum  [Migne's 
ed.,  xxxiii  :  635],  how  in  the  apostolic  passage,  Eph.  4  :  11, 
the  office  of  pastor  and  the  office  of  teacher  are  joined. 
"Pastors,"  he  says,  ''and  teachers  whom  thou  hast  appointed 
to  discern  above  all  the  truth,  are,  I  think,  the  same,  and 
not  the  pastors  one  and  the  teachers  another.  And  so,  as 
he  had  spoken  previously  of  pastors,  he  added  teachers  that 
pastors  might  understand  that  teaching — doctrina — belonged 
to  their  office.  And,  therefore,  he  did  not  say,  'some  pas- 
tors and  some  teachers' — the  form  of  speech  used  in  the 
former  part  of  the  preceding  verse — but  'some  pastors  and 
teachers,'  as  if  one  office  were  embraced  under  the  two  words: 
'some,'  he  said,  'pastors  and  teachers.'" 

Hence,  if  that  which  is  superfluous  be  taken  away,  it 
would  appear  what  pope,  cardinal  or  bishop  would  remain 
a  true  shepherd  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  and  per- 
haps more  would  be  found  useless  thieves  and  robbers  rather 
than  true  vicars  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But  against  what  has  been  said  the  objection  is  brought, 

'Cyprian's  text,  which  Huss  is  quoting,  runs  thus:  "The  deacons  should 
remember  how  the  Lord  chose  the  apostles,  that  is,  the  bishops  and  presbyters, 
but  after  the  Lord's  ascension,  the  apostles  appointed  them  as  ministers  of  their 
episcopate  and  the  church." 


THE   CHURCH  WITHOUT  POPE  159 

that,  if  the  pope  and  cardinals  are  not  the  true  and  manifest 
successors  of  the  apostles,  then  for  the  same  reason  others 
are  not,  inasmuch  as  the  power  of  discrimination  cannot  be 
based  upon  the  fact  that  they  may  be  clad  in  sheep's  clothing, 
and  yet  may  be  inwardly  ravening  wolves,  as  stated,  Matt. 
7  :  15.  Here  it  becomes  us  to  consider  the  two  sects  of  the 
clergy,  namely,  the  clergy  of  Christ  and  the  clergy  of  anti- 
christ. Christ's  clergy  rests  in  its  head,  Christ,  and  in  his 
laws;  but  antichrist's  clergy  leans  wholly  or  chiefly  on  human 
laws  and  the  laws  of  antichrist,  and  yet  it  is  clothed  upon 
like  the  clergy  of  Christ  and  the  church  with  the  design  that 
the  people  may  be  led  astray  by  its  simulation.  And  so  it 
is  fitting  that  these  two  things  which  are  so  contrary  to  each 
other  obey  two  contrary  heads  with  their  laws.  The  out- 
ward evidence  teaches  the  class  to  which  the  members  belong. 
Indeed,  it  is  estabhshed  that  the  clergy  of  the  church  falls 
away^  into  two  parts  and  for  this  reason  laymen  cannot  help 
but  waver  who  are  borne  along  by  those  who  are  so  different 
from  Christ  in  opinion  and  in  life. 

But  these  parts  may  be  commonly  best  discerned  from 
the  fact  that  the  clergy  of  antichrist  is  zealously  intent  upon 
human  traditions  and  rights  which  savor  of  pride  and  the 
greed  of  this  world,  and  that  it  wishes  to  live  ostentatiously 
and  in  pleasure  and  in  a  way  contrary  to  Christ,  wholly  neg- 
lecting the  imitation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  its  living. 
But  Christ's  clergy  labors  diligently  for  Christ's  laws  and  his 
rights,  whereby  spiritual  good  is  acquired  that  it  may  be 
shown,  and  it  flees  pride  and  the  pleasure  of  this  world,  and 
seeks  to  live  in  conformity  with  Christ,  giving  itself  up  most 
zealously,  following  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Nor  is  it  right 
for  the  faithful  to  doubt  that  this  part  is  the  true  clergy, 
and  the  other  part  is  the  false.  And  although  in  the  absence 
of  revelation,  the  pilgrim  is  not   able  clearly  and  with  cer- 

^  Claudical,  literally  limps  or  falters;  DuCange  derives  it  from  claudeo  and 
claudo. 


i6o  THE  CHURCH 

tainty  to  determine  who  the  holy  pastor  really  is,  neverthe- 
less we  ought  to  decide  by  his  works,  which  are  conformed  to 
Christ's  law,  that  he  is  such  a  pastor. 

If,  however,  the  pilgrim  sees  him  living  at  variance  with 
Christ,  to  what  other  judgment  can  he  come  than  that  he 
is  antichrist's  vicar,  for  Christ  says:  "Ye  shall  know  them 
by  their  fruits,"  Matt.  7  :  16,  and  "He  that  is  not  with  me 
is  against  me,"  Matt.  12  :  30.  Here  the  Glossa  ordinaria 
says:  "He  that  is  not  with  me" — that  is,  does  works  dis- 
similar to  mine — "he  is  against  me."  If,  therefore,  a  prel- 
ate is  proud,  lives  in  luxury,  follows  after  greed,  is  impa- 
tient, does  not  feed  the  sheep,  but  oppresses  and  scatters 
them,  is  he  not  antichrist?  Hence  men  may  easily  recog- 
nize the  wicked  by  their  outward  works  which  are  contrary 
to  Christ;  but  the  good  cannot  be  so  known  because  hypocrisy 
may  lurk  in  them. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  LAW  OF  GOD  THE  STANDARD  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL 

JUDGMENTS 

Further,  the  aforementioned  doctors  lay  down  that  "  cer- 
tain of  the  Bohemian  clergy,  leaning  too  little  on  the  pope 
and  the  college  of  cardinals,  do  not  want  to  agree  to  this, 
wishing  to  have  holy  Scripture  for  the  only  judge  in  such 
matters,  which  Scripture  they  interpret  and  wish  to  have  in- 
terpreted according  to  their  own  heads,  not  caring  for  the 
interpretation  accepted  by  the  community  of  wise  men  in 
the  church  nor  heeding  the  holy  Scripture  recorded  in  Deut. 
17  :  8-12:  'If  thou  seest  that  there  is  a  matter  in  judg- 
ment too  uncertain  and  hard  for  thee,  between  blood  and 
blood,  between  plea  and  plea,  between  leprous  and  non- 
leprous,  and  perceivest  that  the  words  of  the  judges  do  not 
agree  within  thy  gates;  then  arise  and  get  thee  up  unto  the 
place  which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  choose  and  thou  shalt 
come  unto  the  priests,  the  Levites,  and  unto  the  judge  which 
shall  be  in  those  days,  and  thou  shalt  inquire  from  them  and 
they  shall  pronounce  for  thee  a  sentence  of  truth.  And  thou 
shalt  do  according  to  whatever  they  may  say  who  preside 
in  that  place  which  Jehovah  hath  chosen;  and  they  shall 
teach  thee  according  to  his  law  and  thou  shalt  observe  their 
sentence,  nor  shalt  thou  turn  aside  from  the  sentence  to 
the  right  hand  or  to  the  left.  And  the  man  that  doth  pre- 
sumptuously, not  willing  to  obey  the  priest's  jurisdiction 
who  at  that  time  standeth  to  minister  before  thy  God,  and 
to  obey  the  sentence  of  the  judge,  even  that  man  shall  die: 
and  thou  shalt  put  away  the  evil  from  Israel.    And  all  the 

161 


i62  THE   CHURCH 

people  shall  hear  and  fear  and  do  no  more  presumptuously.'  ^ 
It  is  certain  that  for  all  the  faithful  the  Roman  church  is 
the  place  which  the  Lord  has  chosen,  the  place  where  the 
Lord  has  placed  the  primacy  of  the  whole  church,  and  the 
high  priest  who  occupies  the  primacy,  and  is  set  over  that 
place,  is  the  pope,  the  true  and  manifest  successor  of  Peter. 
And  the  cardinals  are  the  priests  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  who 
are  joined  with  the  lord  pope  in  the  administration  of  the 
priestly  office,  to  whom  in  cases  of  doubt  and  difficulty  re- 
course must  be  had  in  matters,  catholic  and  ecclesiastical,  the 
judgment  of  God  being  followed. 

"  Hence  Jerome,  Ep.ad  papain  [Letter  to  Damasus,  Fried- 
berg,  I  :  970],  speaking  of  the  same  thing,  says:  'This  is 
the  faith,  most  blessed  pope,-  which  we  have  learned  in  the 
catholic  church  and  which  we  have  always  held,  and,  if  any- 
thing less  proper  or  anything  indiscreet  has  been  placed  in 
her,  we  desire  that  it  be  corrected  by  thee,  who  holdest  Peter's 
seat  and  faith.  And  if  this,  our  confession,  approves  itself 
to  the  judgment  of  thy  apostleship — whosoever  may  wish  to 
charge  me  with  guilt — he  will  prove  himself  to  be  inexperienced 
or  malevolent,  or  perchance  not  a  catholic  but  a  heretic'  " 

This  exposition,  so  far  as  the  principles  go,  I  think  flowed 
chiefly  from  the  head  of  Stephen  Palecz,  for  by  it  he  attempts 
first  to  arouse  the  pope  and  the  cardinals  against  the  party 
opposed  to  him,  when  he  says:  "Certain  of  the  clergy  of 
Bohemia,  leaning  too  little  on  the  pope  and  the  cardinals,  do 
not  wish  to  agree  to  this":  namely,  that  the  pope  is  the  head 
of  the  Roman  church  and  the  cardinals  its  body,  the  true 
and  manifest  vicars  of  Christ.  However,  in  regard  to  this 
too  little  dependence,  I  say  that,  so  far  as  their  vanity,  greed 
and  illegal  commands  go,  the  pope  with  the  cardinals  ought 
to  be  depended  upon  little.  For  so  the  Saviour  put  little 
dependence  upon  the  savorless  salt,  which  was  good  for  noth- 

1  The  translation  follows  the  Vulgate  which  Huss  gives  exactly. 

2  Bealissimc  papa.     Huss  has  beatissimi  papa.      Damasus,  pope  366-384, 
is  said  to  have  called  upon  Jerome  to  make  his  Vulgate  translation. 


THE  LAW  OF   GOD  163 

ing  except  to  be  trodden  under  foot  of  man,'  Matt.  5  :  13/ 
and  he  added:  ''Nor  is  it  fit  for  the  dunghill,"  Luke  14  :  35. 
And  Judas  Iscariot  he  depended  upon  little,  for  he  called 
him  a  devil  and  the  son  of  perdition,  John  6  :  71;  17  :  12. 
Peter  he  also  called  Satan,  when  Peter  opposed  him.  Matt. 
16  :  22. 
/  Later  on  that  doctor  heaps  together  many  lies  against 

us.  The  first  lie  is  that  we  wish  to  have  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures alone  for  our  judge  in  such  matters.  And  in  this  state- 
ment he  affirms  that  we  would  not  wish  to  have  for  our  judge 
God,  the  apostles,  the  holy  doctors,  or  the  universal  church. 
But  he  draws  this  lie  from  a  certain  disputation  in  which  we 
were  engaged,  when  it  was  said  that  he  would  offer  Scrip- 
ture for  his  statements  and  for  the  reason  that  we  would 
not  agree  to  the  positions  of  our  opponents.  The  doctor, 
however,  ought  to  know  that  neither  with  him  nor  with  any 
of  his  adherents  do  we  agree  in  matters  of  faith  unless  they 
ground  themselves  in  Scripture  or  reason.  But  revelation  I 
do  not  expect  from  them,  and  if  it  did  perchance  come  to 
them,  we  would  feel  that  it  taught  otherwise  than  the  Scrip- 
ture teaches.  / 

The  second  lie  that  he  ascribes  to  us  is  that  we  interpret 
holy  Scripture  according  to  our  heads,  that  is — as  he  him- 
self and  the  other  doctors  allege — that  we  expound  holy 
Scripture  according  to  our  erroneous  understanding  or  ac- 
cording to  our  pleasure,  and  in  this  he  charges  upon  us  the 
arrogance  of  wisdom  and  also  heresy,  but  mendaciously,  be- 
cause, with  God's  help,  we  do  not  intend  to  explain  Scripture 
otherwise  than  the  Holy  Spirit  requires  and  than  it  is  ex- 
plained by  the  holy  doctors  to  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  gave 
understanding.  And  I  could  wish  that  that  doctor  and  all 
his  colleagues  might  show  which  Scripture  it  is  which  we 
expound  ill.     Hence,  he  is  the  more  to  be  suspected  of  lying 

1  In  his  Reply  to  Palecz,  Mon.,  i  :  352,  Huss  says  Christians  must  judge 
by  the  effects  or  fruits  whether  the  pope  and  cardinals  are  the  salt  of  the  earth 
and  the  light  of  the  world. 


i64  THE  CHURCH 

when  he  adds,  "And  they  wish  to  interpret,"  because  if  he 
is  not  a  knower  of  hearts  how  does  he  dare  to  say  that  we 
wish  to  expound  Scripture  otherwise  than  we  ought?  But 
this  statement  is  vented  forth  because  we  do  not  follow  his 
pleasure  and  the  pleasure  of  his  colleague  Stanislaus,  and 
stand  with  them  who  deem  themselves,  with  the  doctors 
agreeing  with  them,  the  wise  in  the  church.  And  even  much 
more  are  they  to  be  suspected  of  lying  for  they  have  not 
dared  to  charge  us  with  not  giving  heed  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  holy  doctors. 

But  they  add  the  biggest  He  of  all  when  they  speak  with- 
out applying  the  holy  Scripture  as  written  in  Deut.  17  :  8-12. 
For  this  these  doctors  ought  to  know  that  we  turn  to  sacred 
Scripture  and  affirm  that  it  is  the  true  Word  of  God,  which 
also  confirms  our  judgment.  For  that  diligent  expounder  of 
Scripture,  Nicholas  of  Lyra,  on  Deut.  17,  says:  "The  opin- 
ion of  no  man,  whatever  his  authority  may  be,  is  to  be  held 
if  it  plainly  contains  falsehood  or  error,  and  this  appears  by 
the  promise  made  in  the  text,  '  They  shall  pronounce  for  thee 
a  sentence  of  truth,'  and  'they  shall  teach  thee  according  to 
His  law.'  From  this  it  appears  that,  if  they  said  what  was 
false  or  plainly  fell  away  from  God's  law  they  were  not  to 
be  heard."  Thus  much  Lyra.  And  what  has  been  said  is 
confirmed  by  that  word  of  the  Lord:  "Thou  shalt  not  fol- 
low the  multitude  to  do  evil;  neither  shalt  thou  acquiesce  in 
the  judgment  of  the  many  to  depart  from  the  truth,"  Ex. 
23  :  2.  On  this  Lyra  says  that  in  the  Hebrew  it  runs:  "  Thou 
shalt  not  fall  away  after  the  rabbins — that  is,  teachers  or  the 
great  men — to  commit  sin."  And  further  on,  he  says:  "As 
you  are  not  to  fall  away  from  the  truth  on  account  of  the 
larger  number  who  sit  in  judgment,  and  fall  away  from  the 
truth,  so  you  are  not  to  fall  away  on  account  of  those  who 
have  greater  authority  in  giving  judgment."  Thus  much  Lyra.^ 

*  Nicholas  of  Lyra,  born  in  France,  d.  Paris,  1340,  member  of  the  Franciscan 
order,  a  notable  exegete,  who  knew  Hebrew  and  in  his  Postilla  gave  a  running 


THE  LAW  OF  GOD  165 

Certainly  I  confide  in  this  expounder,  so  far  as  this  opin- 
ion goes,  more  than  in  all  the  aforesaid  doctors.  For  Lyra 
aptly  draws  from  Scripture  (i)  that  the  opinion  of  no  man, 
whatever  his  authority  may  be — and  consequently  the  opinion 
of  no  pope — is  to  be  held  if  it  plainly  contains  falsehood  or 
error.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  certain  that  Palecz  and  Stanis- 
laus are  so  afraid  of  the  pope  and  the  cardinals  that  they 
would  not  dare  publicly  to  avow  this  holy  saying.  (2)  Lyra 
declares  that  God's  law  is  the  standard  according  to  which 
individual  judges  and  especially  ecclesiastical  judges  ought 
to  pronounce  sentence  and  not  otherwise.  For  this  law  shows 
what  ought  to  be  accepted  as  true.  Hence  he  says  that  this 
appears  from  the  words:  "They  shall  pronounce  for  thee  a 
sentence  of  truth."  And  the  words  follow:  "They  shall 
teach  thee  according  to  His  law."  O  doctors,  why  do  you 
not  hold  to  this  Scripture?  You  were  asked  and  for  God's 
sake  publicly  besought  in  the  convocation  of  the  university  to 
pronounce  a  sentence  of  truth  according  to  God's  law,  whether 
the  bulls  for  the  raising  of  the  cross  obligated  the  scholars 
of  the  university  to  give  of  the  goods  collected  by  God  sub- 
sidies to  the  pope  against  Ladislaus  and  against  his  allies  at 
the  pope's  command.^     And  you  responded  that  you  did  not 

comment  on  all  the  books  of  the  Bible.  He  was  much  used  by  the  Reformers, 
especially  Luther,  so  that  it  was  said:  "If  Lyra  had  not  harped,  Luther  would 
not  have  danced."     Lyra  quotes  Raschi  at  length  on  the  O.  T. 

1  Ladislaus,  king  of  Naples,  by  occupying  the  city  of  Rome,  called  forth 
against  himself  the  severest  papal  censures  from  John  XXIIL  John's  two  bulls 
calling  for  a  crusade  against  the  refractory  prince  promised  full  forgiveness 
from  "guilt  and  punishment"  to  all  who  went  to  the  holy  war  or  helped  others 
to  go.  Three  places  were  set  up  in  Prague  where  the  pardons  were  sold.  Huss 
lifted  his  voice  and  used  his  pen  against  the  crusade  as  Wyclif  had  done  against 
the  crusade  preached  by  Henry  de  Spenser.  Palecz  and  seven  other  members 
of  the  theological  faculty  of  the  university,  that  is,  the  Eight  Doctors,  took 
sides  against  Huss  and  defended  John's  bulls.  Huss  took  the  ground  that 
the  pope  has  no  right  to  forgive  sins  unless  he  surely  knows  that  God  in  these 
cases  has  forgiven,  that  the  pope  does  no  more  than  announce  God's  decisions, 
and  that,  instead  of  calling  upon  Christians  to  make  war  against  Christians, 
he  ought  to  imitate  Christ,  who  did  not  call  down  fire  upon  his  enemies, 
and  with  tears  and  prayers  seek  to  overcome  opposition  to  the  church.  Huss, 
in  his  Reply  to  Palecz,  Mon.,  i  :  330,  says  that  Palecz  was  at  first  opposed  to 


i66  THE  CHURCH 

wish  to  instruct  them  [the  convocation]  nor  pronounce  judg- 
ment upon  the  pope's  bulls,  and  interpret  them.  But  in 
corners  you  have  written  differently,  and  especially  have  I 
heard  Palecz  say  about  the  articles  which  were  handed  to 
him  by  the  pope's  legates  that  they  contained  plain  errors 
evident  to  the  eye,  which  articles,  nevertheless,  were  taken 
from  the  bull  and  were  handed  out  to  the  preachers  by  these 
legates  as  the  first  deputies  under  the  authority  of  the  pope 
to  be  promulgated.  Hence,  as  I  have  heard,  the  preacher, 
Master  Briccius,  in  their  lecture-room  said  to  those  masters 
that  he  would  rather  die  than  announce  those  articles.  But 
when  Palecz  receded  and  was  followed  by  others,  Briccius 
also  receded,  for  letters  from  the  lord  king  frightened  them, 
which  letters  the  legates  used  for  their  financial  support — 
suhsidium. 

(3)  Lyra  deduces  from  the  aforesaid  Scripture  of  the 
Lord  that  if  judges  say  what  is  false  or  plainly  fall  away 
from  God's  law  they  are  not  to  be  heard,  because  God  said, 
as  I  have  quoted:  "Thou  shalt  not  follow  the  multitude  to 
do  evil;  neither  shalt  thou  acquiesce  in  the  judgment  of  the 
many  to  depart  from  the  truth"  [Ex.  23  :  2].  How,  there- 
fore, can  we  be  bound  contrary  to  that  most  holy  mandate 
of  God  to  follow  the  multitude  which  the  doctors  gathered 
together  and  led  to  the  city  hall  that  they  might  overcome 
by  fright  those  whom  they  were  not  able  to  overcome  by 
Scripture  or  reason?  The  priests,  scribes  and  Pharisees  did 
not  dare  to  go  into  the  praetorium  and  accuse  Jesus  for  fear 
of  being  polluted.  But  these,  when  the  scribes  and  Phar- 
isees and  elders  of  the  people  were  assembled,  gladly  went 
in  and  one  of  them,  named  Palecz,  read,  while  all  listened, 
the  words  of  Deut.  17  :  8-12:  "But  that  man  that  doeth 
presumptuously,  not  willing  to  obey  the  judge's  decree,  even 

the  sale  of  the  indulgences  and  declared  the  pope's  bull  to  his  legates  was  full 
of  evident  errors.  For  the  bulls  and  Huss's  treatise,  Mon.,  i  :  212-235,  see 
Schaff:  John  Huss,  p.  iii  sq.,  116-122. 


THE  LAW  OF   GOD  167 

that  man  shall  die."  He  did  not  fear  to  incur  irregularity, 
and  if  perchance  he  had  been  with  the  Jews  in  accusing 
Christ,  perhaps  he  would  have  said:  "His  blood  be  upon 
us  and  upon  our  children;  for  we  have  a  law  and  by  that 
law  he  ought  to  die."  Pilate  was  not,  therefore,  excused  be- 
cause he  heard  the  high  priests  and  the  magistrates,  scribes 
and  elders  of  the  people,  for  God  said :  "  Thou  shalt  not  fol- 
low the  multitude  to  do  evil,"  etc.  Here  Lyra  says  the 
Hebrew  is,  "Thou  shalt  not  fall  away  after  the  rabbins," 
that  is,  the  teachers  or  great  men,  "to  commit  sin" — who- 
ever the  great  men  and  teachers  in  the  city  hall  were  who 
condemned  and  decreed  many  things  which  down  to  this 
day  they  have  not  shown  should  be  condemned  at  their 
pleasure. 

And  according  to  the  purpose  of  the  doctors,  in  the  Scrip- 
ture quoted,  some  might  Judaize  and  say  that  under  the 
rule  of  Caiaphas,  the  high  priest,  or  Annas,  who  then  pre- 
sided in  the  holy  place  which  the  Lord  had  chosen,  and 
by  Pilate's  decree  the  judge,  Jesus  Christ,  was  justly  con- 
demned, a  thing  which  is  against  what  Paul  says:  "They 
that  dwell  in  Jerusalem  and  their  rulers,  because  they  knew 
not  him  or  the  voices  of  the  prophets  which  are  read  every 
Sabbath,  fulfilled  them  by  condemning  him.  And  though 
they  found  no  cause  of  death  in  him,  yet  asked  they  of  Pi- 
late that  they  might  slay  him,"  Acts  13  :  27,  28.  And  it  is 
clear  that,  in  condemning  Christ,  the  high  priest  was  pres- 
ent, the  priests  of  the  house  of  Levi  were  present,  and  Pilate, 
the  judge,  was  present  in  the  place  which  the  Lord  had  chosen; 
and  these  persons  Christ  Jesus  did  not  wish  to  obey  in  the 
evil  they  were  doing,  although  he  obeyed  God,  his  Father,  and 
Pilate,  submitting  to  death  meekly.  Did,  therefore,  the  high 
priest,  followed  by  the  priests,  the  Levites,  the  magistrates 
and  elders  of  the  people,  Pilate  and  the  soldiers,  yea,  and 
by  the  crowd  shouting,  "Crucify  Him,  crucify  Him!"  did 
they  justly  condemn  Christ  the  Lord?     Yea,  truly,  because 


i68  THE   CHURCH 

not  love  but  hate,  not  truth  but  lying,  urged  them  on  and 
ignorance  of  God's  law  led  them  astray,  did  they  err  gravely. 
Equally,  there  may  be  a  leading  astray  in  the  case  of  the 
pope  and  cardinals,  our  doctors  themselves  being  included, 
that  they  should  condemn  some  truth  or  other.  For  if  the 
apostles,  chosen  by  Christ,  who  received  the  Holy  Spirit, 
fell  into  heresy,  as  St.  Augustine  and  Bede  affirm,  how  is 
it  that  the  pope  and  cardinals  have  received  greater  gifts  of 
the  Spirit,  making  it  impossible  for  them  to  stray  off  in  the 
same  degree  or  even  in  a  larger  degree?  And  it  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  doubt  that  obedience  should  be  rendered  to  pope  and 
cardinals  so  long  as  they  teach  the  truth  according  to  God's 
law,  as  the  authority  says:  "They  shall  pronounce  for  thee 
a  sentence  of  truth,  and  thou  shalt  do  whatsoever  they  say 
and  whatsoever  they  teach  thee  according  to  His  law."  But 
if  the  rabbins,  that  is,  the  teachers  or  great  men,  as  Lyra  says, 
or  popes  or  cardinals  charge  or  admonish  anything  besides 
the  truth,  even  though  the  whole  Roman  curia  is  on  their 
side,  the  faithful  is  not  to  obey  when  he  knows  the  truth, 
for  God  says:  *'Thou  shalt  not  follow  after  the  multitude 
to  do  evil."^  Daniel,  Nicodemus  and  the  thief  on  the  cross 
put  this  principle  into  practise,  who  would  not  fall  in  with 
the  crowds  in  condemning  the  truth,  as  the  Scripture  states. 
For  Daniel  condemned  as  naught  the  sentence  of  the  elders 
of  the  children  of  Israel  by  liberating  Susanna  and  pronounc- 
ing against  the  senior  elders  from  whom  the  iniquity  started, 
Daniel  13.^    Nicodemus  in  the  council  of  the  Pharisees  and 

'  In  his  treatises  against  John  XXIII's  bulls,  Mon.,  215-235,  Huss  asserts 
the  fallibility  of  popes  and  that  they  are  not  always  to  be  obeyed.  Popes 
do  not  know  whether  they  themselves  are  among  the  predestinate,  not  to 
speak  of  others.     Many  popes  who  gave  indulgences  are  lost. 

2  The  History  of  Susanna,  Lange:  Apocrypha,  45659.  This  apocryphal 
work  gives  the  story  of  the  attempt  on  the  virtue  of  a  beautiful  married  woman, 
Susanna,  by  two  elders  of  Israel.  Rejecting  their  proposal  rather  than  incur 
God's  condemnation,  she  was  nevertheless  accused  by  her  would-be  seducers 
and  sentenced  to  death.  Daniel  then  intervened,  proved  the  charges  false, 
and  Susanna's  accusers  were  put  to  death. 


THE  LAW  OF  GOD  169 

priests,  when  they  had  sent  the  servants  to  bring  Jesus,  wish- 
ing to  put  him  to  death,  and  when  they  said  to  the  servants, 
"  Hath  any  of  the  rulers  beheved  on  him  or  of  the  Pharisees  ? 
But  this  multitude  that  knoweth  not  the  law  are  accursed" — ■ 
then  Nicodemus  said  to  them:  "Doth  our  law  judge  a  man, 
except  it  first  hear  from  himself  and  know  what  he  doeth  ?  " 
John  7  :  47-51.  O  blessed  Nicodemus,  thou  didst  accord 
such  force  to  God's  law;  thou  didst  bear  witness  to  the  law 
that  it  should  be  the  judge  of  man. 

See,  how  inconvenient  the  statements  of  our  doctors  are 
when  they  pronounce  the  sentence  that  we  wish  to  have  the 
law  as  judge — a  judge  which  judges  most  justly  and  does 
not  judge  otherwise  than  does  God,  the  most  just  judge. 
Thou  sayest,  ''Doth  our  law  judge  a  man,  except  it  first 
hear  from  him  and  know  what  he  doeth?"  as  if  he  would 
say,  No,  because  it  judges  justly.  To  that  judge  Christ  re- 
ferred the  priests,  Pharisees,  scribes  and  Jews,  who  accused 
him  of  sin  because  he  kept  not  the  Sabbath  day,  and  called 
God  his  Father,  saying:  "Ye  search  the  Scriptures.  These 
are  they  which  bear  witness  of  me,"  John  5  :  39.  Did  not, 
therefore,  Christ  wish  the  Scriptures  to  judge  the  Jews  which 
believed  not  on  Christ?  Certainly,  he  wished  it.  In  pro- 
portion, therefore,  as  the  doctors  wish  that  the  Scriptures 
be  not  the  judge,  in  that  proportion  they  wish  themselves 
to  be  believed  that  whatever  they  condemn  should  be  con- 
demned and  that  whatever  they  approve  should  be  approved. 
For  this  they  asked  and  begged  in  the  city  hall;  for  this  they 
sought  the  signatures  of  the  magisters  who  gainsaid  their  opin- 
ions. But  the  counsel  of  the  Pharisees,  scribes  and  priests 
has  come  to  naught,  because  the  faithful  who  gainsaid  them 
were  not  willing  to  agree  without  hearing  the  proof  from  the 
law,  which  holds  wrapped  up  in  itself  all  truth  that  is  to 
be  believed.  If  the  pontiffs,  Pharisees,  priests  and  elders 
of  the  people  had  known  this  law  they  would  not  have  con- 
demned Christ — but  they  did  condemn  and  blaspheme.     More 


I70  THE  CHURCH 

learned  than  they  was  the  thief,  who,  hanging  on  the  cross, 
bare  witness  to  Christ,  saying:  "This  man  hath  done  nothing 
amiss,"  Luke  23  :  41. 

And,  so  far  as  the  chief  purpose  of  the  doctors  goes,  who 
intend  that  the  pope  ought  to  be  the  judge  of  all  cases  and 
that  whoso  does  not  obey  him  ought  to  die  the  death  of  the 
body,  these  doctors  ought  to  be  reverenced  for  their  apish 
and  cruel  comparison  [that  is,  to  those  who  put  Christ  to 
death],  especially  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  priest  of  both 
Testaments,  neither  wished  to  pronounce  civil  judgment  nor 
to  condemn  the  disobedient  to  bodily  death.  For,  so  far  as 
the  first  goes,  he  said:  "Man,  who  made  me  a  judge  or  di- 
vider over  you?"  Luie  12  :  14.  And  so  far  as  the  second, 
he  said  to  the  woman  taken  in  adultery,  whom  the  Pharisees 
pronounced  worthy  of  death  according  to  the  law:  "Neither 
do  I  condemn  thee;  go  thy  way;  from  henceforth  sin  no 
more,"  John  8:11. 

But,  perhaps  it  may  be  said  by  the  doctors  that  this  is 
not  to  the  point,  that  the  law  says:  "He  who  does  presump- 
tuously, not  willing  to  obey  the  rule  of  the  priest. "  See,  I 
will  give  a  case  in  form — for,  Christ  said:  "If  thy  brother 
sin  against  thee,  go  show  him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him 
alone:  if  he  hear  thee,  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother,  but  if 
he  hear  thee  not,  take  with  thee  one  or  two,  that  at  the  mouth 
of  two  witnesses  or  three  every  word  may  be  established; 
and  if  he  refuse  to  hear  them,  tell  it  to  the  church:  and  if 
he  refuse  to  hear  the  church  let  him  be  unto  thee  as  the 
gentile  and  the  publican,"  Matt.  18  :  15-17.  See,  to  whom 
the  supreme  lord  of  the  law  and  the  supreme  pontiff  speaks  ? 
Certainly  to  Peter,  the  future  Roman  pontiff,  next  after 
himself,  that  he  might  kindly  correct  the  erring  and  convince 
the  disobedient  person  before  witnesses,  and  if  he  remained 
hardened  in  disobedience  he  spoke  to  the  church,  that  is,  he 
annoimced  to  the  multitude,  not  to  put  to  death  the  per- 
verse and  disobedient  with  corporal  death,  but  to  avoid  him 


THE  LAW  OF   GOD  171 

as  a  publican  and  gentile.  What  ground,  therefore,  is  there 
for  the  argument  from  comparison  [with  those  who  put  Christ 
to  death]?  Under  the  old  law  the  disobedient  person  was 
to  be  put  to  death,  therefore,  also  under  the  law  of  grace. 
Even  Christ's  disciples  have  been  deceived  by  this  argument 
from  comparison,  for  after  the  manner  of  Elijah  the  prophet, 
they  wanted  the  Samaritans  who  refused  to  receive  Christ 
to  be  consumed  by  fire  from  heaven,  saying:  "Lord,  wilt 
thou  that  we  bid  fire  to  come  down  from  heaven  and  con- 
sume them?"  That  most  good  priest  and  best  of  masters 
reproved  them,  for  the  words  follow  that  he,  turning  around, 
rebuked  them,  saying:  "Ye  know  not  what  spirit  ye  are  of , 
for  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  destroy  souls  but  to  save 
them,"  Luke  9  :  54-56. 

This  good  Gospel  the  doctors  did  not  turn  to  and  so  they 
have  joined  to  their  statements  this  sanguinary  corollary — 
sanguinolentum  corollarium^ — and  say:  "If  any  of  the  clergy 
be  found  in  Bohemia  acting  contrary  to  these  premises  or 
a  single  one  of  them,  such  an  one  is  to  be  corrected  by  ecclesi- 
astical censure  and,  if  he  refuses  to  be  corrected,  he  is  to  be 
turned  over  to  the  secular  tribunal."     For  a  certainty  in  this 

*  This  is  one  of  the  rare  protests  before  the  Reformation  against  the  bloody 
practice  of  putting  heretics  to  death.  In  his  Reply  to  Eight  Doctors,  Mon., 
I  :  382  sqq.,  Huss  takes  up  again  at  length  the  treatment  of  heresy.  The 
definite  position  taken  by  the  church  was  that  they  should  be  put  out  of  the 
world.  The  laws  of  Frederick  II  ordered  death  by  burning  for  all  heretics 
and  the  church  well  knew  that  when  it  turned  a  heretic  over  to  the  civil  power, 
though  its  sentence  asked  for  mercy,  the  death  penalty  would  follow.  In 
fact,  as  Vacandard  has  shown,  the  ecclesiastical  court  sometimes  actually  pro- 
nounced the  death  penalty  and  carried  it  out,  and  popes  and  other  eccle- 
siastics demanded  on  pain  of  excommunication  the  summary  treatment  by  the 
civil  authorities  of  persons  condemned  by  the  church.  See  Schaff :  John  Huss. 
It  would  have  been  well  if  Calvin  and  Beza  had  made  the  same  distinction 
between  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  which  Huss  makes  in  the  preceding 
paragraph.  In  this  case,  they  would  not  have  justified  the  execution  of  here- 
tics upon  the  basis  of  the  examples  given  in  the  Old  Testament.  A  strong 
passage  in  Huss's  treatise  against  indulgences,  Mon.,  i  :  223,  runs:  "The 
Saviour  taught  Peter  and  in  him  his  vicars  and  pontiffs  in  their  necessities  to 
flee  to  God  in  prayer  and  not  to  money  or  physical  battle."  For  a  more 
elaborate  treatment  of  putting  heretics  to  death,  etc.,  see  ad  octo  Doctores, 
Mon.,  I  :  393  sqq.,  399  sqq. 


172  THE   CHURCH 

they  follow  the  pontifTs,  scribes  and  Pharisees  who,  when 
Christ  refused  to  obey  them  in  all  things,  said :  "  It  is  not  law- 
ful for  us  to  put  any  man  to  death,"  and  then  delivered  him 
over  to  the  secular  tribunal.  Are  they  not  murderers  ?  Truly 
they  are  worse  murderers  than  Pilate.  The  Saviour  bore  wit- 
ness and  said  to  Pilate:  "He  who  delivered  me  to  thee  hath 
the  greater  sin."  These  are  they  to  whom  Peter  spoke  when 
he  said:  "Ye  denied  the  Holy  and  Righteous  One  and  asked 
for  a  murderer  to  be  granted  unto  you  and  killed  the  Prince 
of  Life,"  Acts  3  :  14. 

Then  the  doctors  add:  "It  is  fixed  for  every  one  of  the 
faithful  that  the  Roman  church  is  the  place  which  the  Lord 
hath  chosen,  where  the  Lord  placed  the  headship  of  the 
whole  church.  And  the  high  priest  who  presides  there  is  the 
pope,  the  true  and  manifest  successor  of  Peter,  and  the  car- 
dinals are  the  priests  of  the  tribe  of  Levi."  In  this  state- 
ment, the  doctors  heap  together  many  things  that  they  do 
not  prove.  For  when  did  they  prove  that  it  is  fixed  for  every 
one  of  the  faithful  to  accept  that  legal  loaf  of  theirs  ? — hrodium 
— [see  DuCange,  Glossarium,  vol.  i].  For  many  of  their  party 
are  without  doubt  among  the  faithful  and  know  nothing 
about  Rome,  the  pope,  and  the  cardinals,  and  especially 
whether  the  pope  is  the  true  successor  of  Peter,  and  the  car- 
dinals the  priests  of  the  order  of  Levi.  But  these  doctors 
call  the  church  perhaps  that  place  of  which  the  Saviour 
prophesied  when  he  said:  "When  ye  see  the  abomination  of 
desolation  standing  in  the  holy  place  (let  him  that  heareth 
understand)"  Matt.  24  :  15.  Or  the  doctors  call  the  Roman 
church  a  place,  the  basilica  of  St.  Peter,  or  the  apostolical 
dignity,  for  in  these  two  senses  "the  place"  in  their  state- 
ment may  be  understood,  for  there  the  Lord  located  the 
chief  government— />rmcf/>a/ws— of  the  whole  church  because 
he  wanted  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul  to  undergo  their  chief 
sufferings  there,  men  who  were  appointed  to  be  the  spiritual 
rulers  over  the  whole  church  and  in  whom,  after  Christ's 


THE  LAW  OF   GOD  173 

death,  the  spiritual  government  of  the  church  chiefly  in- 
hered. And  in  this  church  not  the  pope  but  Christ  is  the\ 
chief  ruler  who  presides  over  that  place,  that  is,  the  basilica  I 
or  apostohc  dignity,  and  he  rules  the  church  which  is  his  ^ 
bride.  But,  if  in  the  pope  is  discovered  a  life  at  variance 
with  Christ,  lived  in  pride,  greed,  restless  impatience,  ambi- 
tion, and  in  the  flaunting  of  power  and  giving  preponderance 
to  his  own  law  over  the  law  of  Christ — then  is  seen  the  abom- 
ination of  the  desolation  of  Christ's  virtues  standing  in  the 
holy  place,  where  it  ought  not  to  stand,  as  Christ  said,  Mark 
13  :  14.  Wherefore,  if  faithful  souls  should  observe  any- 
where the  spiritual  state  of  the  church  set  up,  where  one  head 
of  a  family^  was  accustomed  to  preside  over  his  house,  who 
graciously  received  all  his  servants  whom  he  had  invited, 
took  care  of  them  by  warming  them,  and  defended  them 
by  helping  them,  but  if  in  that  same  house  he  should  find 
that  one  presides  over  a  condition  altogether  the  opposite, 
it  would  not  be  wondered  at  if  many  were  confounded,  just 
as  though  a  traveller  wished  to  be  entertained  by  a  true 
head  of  a  household,  a  man  of  large  hospitality,  goodness 
and  good  nature,  and  of  an  altogether  virtuous  life,  and 
afterward  should  find  a  monstrous  wild  beast  which  was 
wont  to  tyrannize  over  the  guests  by  giving  them  cold  com- 
fort and  by  craft,  cruelty  and  avarice  and  betrayal — the 
traveller,  entering  the  house  and  seeing  such  an  one  sitting 
in  the  chair  of  the  good  head  of  the  household,  would  won- 
der, be  troubled  and  not  a  little  confounded  at  his  looks. 
So  the  abomination  of  desolation  may  be  understood  in  ac- 
cord with  Zech.  11  :  15:  "Take  unto  thee  yet  again  the  in- 
struments of  a  foolish  shepherd,  for  I  will  raise  up  a  shep- 
herd in  the  land  which  will  not  visit  those  which  are  cut 
off,  neither  seek  those  which  are  scattered  nor  heal  that 
which  is  broken  nor  feed  that  which  is  sound;  but  he  will 
eat  the  flesh  of  the  fat  sheep  and  will  tear  their  hoofs  in 
'This  is  taken  from  Gregory  the  Great,  Migne,  76  :  1154. 


174  THE   CHURCH 

pieces.  Woe  to  the  shepherd  and  idol  ^  that  leaveth  the 
flock!"  If,  therefore,  this  description  of  ''the  idol"  and  this 
forsaking  of  the  flock  fit  the  pope,  how  could  the  saying  of 
the  doctors  be  true  of  any  possible  pope  in  the  future,  that 
he  is  the  high  priest,  the  true  and  manifest  successor  of  Peter, 
presiding  over  the  church  which  is  the  bride  of  Christ?  For 
it  does  not  follow, — he  is  the  idol  [worthless  shepherd]  who 
forsakes  the  flock;  therefore,  he  is  the  high  priest,  the  true 
and  manifest  successor  of  Peter.  And  it  also  does  not  follow, — 
he  is  the  pseudo-Christ,  therefore,  he  is  the  true  and  mani- 
fest Christ;  for  the  true  Christ  said:  "If  any  one  shall  say 
to  you,  Lo  here  is  Christ  or  there !  believe  it  not,  for  there 
shall  arise  pseudo-Christs  and  pseudo-prophets."  Let,  there- 
fore, the  faithful  beware  lest,  moved  by  flattery,  they  call  the 
pseudo-Christs  most  holy  and  the  worthless  shepherd  high 
priest  and  true  successor  of  St.  Peter,  the  apostle.  For,  in 
so  calling  Agnes  most  holy  father  and  high  priest,  presiding 
over  the  whole  church — Agnes  who  gave  birth  to  a  child — 
they  are  deceived. 

Then,  to  turn  to  the  saying  of  Jerome,  "  This  is  the  faith,, 
O  most  blessed  pope,"  Deer.  24  :  i  [Friedberg,  i  :  970],  it  is 
said  that  presumably  he  spoke  of  the  apostolic  works  of  Pope 
Damasus  as  he  wrote  to  St.  Augustine  in  letters  addressing 
him  "Augustine,  our  lord  and  most  holy  and  blessed  pope."^ 
And  so  likewise  the  saints  are  reported  to  have  spoken  of 
prelates  when  they  saw  them  straying  away  from  the  steps 
of  Christ,  and  said  they  were  to  be  condemned  or  were  mem- 
bers of  the  devil.  But,  woe  to  them  who  see  the  pope  doing 
works  directly  at  variance  with  Christ  and  yet  call  him  most 
holy  father,  for  it  is  written,  "Woe  unto  them  that  call 
evil  good  and  good  evil,"  Isaiah  5  :  20,  for  by  their  lying 
flattery  they  deceive  both  themselves  and  him.     For,  again, 

*  Pastor  et  idolum.    So  the  Vulgate.    The  Rev.  Vs.  has  "  worthless  shep- 
herd." 

'Augustine's  Letters  [Nic.  Fathers,  i:  272,  324,  545]. 


THE  LAW  OF   GOD  175 

it  is  written:  *'0  my  people,  they  that  call  thee  blessed, 
they  deceive  thee,  and  destroy  the  way  of  thy  paths.  The 
Lord  standeth  to  judge,"  Isaiah  3  :  12.  For,  if  those  learned 
in  the  law  would  boldly  speak  the  truth  about  the  pope  and 
the  cardinals  and  not  flatter  them  out  of  fear  or  in  hope  of 
promotion  to  benefices,  then  the  popes  might  at  times  recog- 
nize themselves  and  not  allow  themselves  to  be  venerated 
as  gods.  But,  because  both  parties  sin  in  hypocritically  re- 
joicing over  honors  and  beatification  [allowing  themselves  to 
be  called  and  treated  as  blessed],  and  are  tickled  over  such 
lying  adulation,  so  necessarily  both  parties  shall  be  hurled 
down.  For  the  prophet  says,  Isaiah  9  :  16:  "They  that 
bless  this  people  and  lead  them  astray  and  they  that  are 
blessed  will  be  hurled  down."  And  who  these  are,  the  prophet 
shows  in  the  verses  immediately  preceding:  "The  Lord 
will  destroy  in  one  day  from  Israel  head  and  tail,  crooked 
and  refractory.  The  elder  and  honorable  man,  he  is  the 
head  and  the  prophet  who  teaches  lies,  he  is  the  tail."  Lo, 
the  one  prophet  expounds  the  head  and  the  tail.  Let  him, 
therefore,  that  will,  take  note  that  he  is  called  honorable 
and  elder  father  whom  they  call  head.  And  with  probabil- 
ity it  may  be  said  of  every  pope,  from  the  first  one  to  the 
last,  who  lives  at  variance  with  Christ  and  whom  they  have 
called  or  will  call  head  and  holy  father — that  he  is  that  hon- 
orable and  elder  one,  because  this  succession  began  a  long 
time  ago.  But  the  tail,  which  by  flattery  or  false  show  or 
by  vain  excuses  covers  the  works  of  that  elder  father,  and 
the  prophet  who  teaches  lies,  represent  the  learned  clergy 
which  teaches  that  the  pope  is  neither  God  nor  man  but  a 
mixed  God  or  an  earthly  God  and  also  teaches  that  the 
pope  is  able  to  give  me  another's  good  and  that  I  will  be 
safe,  because  the  pope  is  able  to  depose  a  bishop  without 
cause,  is  able  to  dispense  at  variance  with  the  apostles'  teach- 
ing, at  variance  with  his  oath,  his  vow  and  with  natural  law, 
and  no  one  has  a  right  to  say  to  him.  Why  doest  thou  this? 


176  THE  CHURCH 

For  he  himself  may  lawfully  say:  "Thus  I  will,  thus  I  com- 
mand; let  my  will  be  the  reason."  And  so  he  is  impeccable; 
and  he  cannot  commit  simony  because  all  things  are  his. 
Therefore,  he  may  do  with  his  as  he  pleases,  for  he  is  able 
even  to  command  angels  and  to  save  men  or  damn  them  as 
he  chooses,  and,  what  is  more,  he  is  able  to  bend  not  only 
the  pope  but  the  subject  people  and  those  who  will  not 
bow  themselves  in  flattery  and  in  a  worldly  way  before 
him  as  the  head  and  the  honorable  one  and  bend  their 
knees  to  him.  For  the  pope,  the  people  and  themselves 
also  they  lead  astray  into  wrong  paths  by  sowing  such  lies. 
And  it  is  about  them,  as  is  probable,  that  Christ  spoke  the 
words :  "  There  shall  arise  pseudo-Christs  and  pseudo-prophets 
and  shall  show  great  signs  and  wonders  so  as  to  lead  astray 
if  possible  even  the  elect,"  Matt.  24  :  24. 

But,  returning  to  the  statement  of  St.  Jerome,  it  is  said 
that  "it  was,  presumably,  of  his  good  works  that  he  spoke  in 
addressing  that  pope"  [Damasus].  But  whether  St.  Jerome 
had  a  revelation  with  regard  to  this  pope's  predestination 
and  the  righteousness  of  his  works  is  unknown.  In  the  second 
place,  it  is  said  that  St.  Jerome  addressed  the  pope  in  this 
way,  secure  about  the  faith  of  which  he  wrote,  because  in 
that  letter  he  wrote  expressly  what  is  contained  in  Scripture 
and  in  the  symbols  of  the  church,  as  appears  to  one  who 
wishes  to  read  the  letter.  And  hence  he  says:  "This  is  the 
faith  which  we  have  learned  in  the  catholic  church,  and  which 
we  have  always  held."  It  is  clear  how  the  conditional  element 
in  St.  Jerome's  statement  is  to  be  understood.  For,  if  that 
confession  of  his  was  confirmed  by  the  Judgment  of  that  pope, 
whosoever  might  impugn  it  would  be  a  heretic.  For  presum- 
ably he  said  and  affirmed  nothing  by  revelation  or  certitude 
of  the  faith  he  was  setting  forth  which  the  pope  would  not  con- 
firm except  it  were  true,  and  he  would  not  change  anything 
rightly  held  in  the  church  long  before.  But  it  would  be  in- 
sane to  believe  that  a  conclusion  is  to  be  drawn  from  this  con- 
cerning every  Roman  pope,  for  it  is  certain  that  many  of  them 


THE  LAW  OF   GOD  177 

have  ratified  errors  and  heresies,  for  they  were  heretics  them- 
selves. 

Hence  the  text,  Dist.  24,  in  nomine  Domini  [Friedberg, 
I  :  78],  describes  how  the  pope  laments  because  that  [apos- 
tolical] seat  has  often  been  smitten  with  the  frequent  din^ 
of  simoniacal  heresy.  Therefore,  wishing  to  provide  a  rem- 
edy for  the  future,  he  [Nicolas  II]  decreed  that,  at  the  pope's 
death,  the  cardinals,  the  rehgious,  clerics  and  laymen,  shall 
meet  together  for  the  election  of  a  suitable  pope  from  the 
bosom  of  that  church  or  from  the  bosom  of  some  other,  wher- 
ever the  most  fit  might  happen  to  be  found,  and  that  the 
privilege  of  the  emperor,  Henry,  should  always  be  honored, 
namely,  that  he  and  his  successors  shall  have  the  right  to 
be  present  at  the  pope's  election. ^  But  a  true  pope  being 
elected,  he  shall  have  before  his  consecration,  following  the 
example  of  St.  Gregory,  power  to  dispose  of  the  goods  of  the 
church,  and  every  one  who  should  hinder  this  ordinance  he 
might  anathematize  as  a  most  wicked  antichrist.  Here  the 
Glossa  ordinaria  says,  that  at  this  point  is  plainly  touched 
upon  what  is  read  in  the  Chronicles,  how  Benedict,  who  suc- 
ceeded Stephen,  was  ejected  from  the  pontifical  office,  and 
for  a  money  consideration  John,  bishop  of  Sabina,  was  made 
pope,  to  whom  the  name  Sylvester  was  given.  But  he  in 
turn  was  cast  down  and  Benedict  restored,  and  Benedict  was 
again  ejected  and  the  papacy  given  to  John,  archpriest  at 
the  Latin  Gate,  on  whom  was  imposed  the  name  Gregory. 
And  he  was  cast  down  by  the  emperor  Henry  and  trans- 
ferred beyond  the  mountains;  and  these  things  all  happened 
in  a  single  year.  On  account  of  these  things  that  privilege 
was  given  to  Henry .^    Thus  much  the  Glossa  of  the  Decretum. 

'  Tunsionibus;  probably  from  tuttdo,  to  beat,  to  thump.  I  do  not  find  the 
word  in  DuCange. 

*  The  decree  of  Nicolas  II,  1059,  confining  election  of  the  pope  to  the  col- 
lege of  cardinals.  The  rule  was  soon  after  set  aside  in  the  case  of  the  election 
of  Gregory  VII,  1073.  The  emperor,  Henry  III,  at  Sutri,  1046,  dictated  the 
election  of  his  chaplain  as  Clement  II.     For  Nicolas's  edict,  Mirbt,  p.  no. 

'  The  reference  here  is  to  the  synod  of  Sutri,  1046,  when  Henry  III  was 
present,  having  come  south  to  Rome  to  rid  the  church  of  the  scandal  of  having 


178  THE  CHURCH 

And,  as  is  gathered  from  the  Chronicles  of  Martin,  Cas- 
trensis  and  Rudolph,^  (i)  Pope  Boniface  was  presiding  at 
Rome  A.  D.  420,  and  EulaHus  having  been  ordained  in 
opposition  to  him  and  the  church  being  divided  on  the  ques- 
tion, both  by  the  command  of  Honorius  Augustus  left  the 
city;  and,  Eulalius  being  condemned,  Boniface,  who  had  pre- 
viously been  ordained,  was  by  the  command  of  Augustus  re- 
stored to  the  apostolic  seat.^ 

(2)  A.  D.  493  Lauren  tins  was  ordained  over  against 
Pope  Symmachus  by  a  dissident  faction.^ 

(3)  A.  D.  768  the  schismatic  pope  Constantine  was  de- 
prived of  his  eyes,  and  Stephen  was  made  pope.  The  latter 
assembled  a  synod  at  Rome  and  reordained  those  who  had 
been  ordained  by  the  schismatic  Constantine.* 

(4)  A.  D.  873  Pope  Anastasius  invaded  the  praesulate  as 
against  Benedict.^ 

three  contemporary  popes  and  to  receive  the  imperial  crown.  As  before  said, 
Benedict  IX,  a  dissolute  fellow,  was  opposed  by  an  antipope,  Sjdvester  III, 
elected  by  the  Romans,  and,  wishing  to  marry,  sold  the  papacy  to  Gregory  VI. 
All  three  were  disposed  of  at  Sutri  and  Clement  II  elected. 

^Martinus  Polonus,  d.  1278,  whose  work,  de  Imperaioribus  et  Pontificibus, 
was  one  of  the  most  esteemed  chronicles  of  the  later  M.  A.  Rudolph  is  Radul- 
phus  Glaber,  a  monk  of  Cluny,  about  1050,  who  wrote  Historia  sid  temporis, 
Migne,  vol.  142.     Castrensis  was  Ranulph  of  Higden. 

=  After  the  death  of  Zosimus,  Eulalius  was  chosen  pope  by  a  part  of  the 
clergy  and  consecrated  418.  The  day  before  the  consecration  Boniface  I 
was  elected  by  another  part  of  the  clergy.  Honorius  recognized  Boniface  and 
expelled  Eulalius,  who  died  423,  a  year  after  Boniface,  refusing  to  stand  again 
for  election  to  the  papal  chair. 

3  Symmachus,  498-514.  Both  were  consecrated,  one  in  the  Lateran  and 
Laurentius  in  the  S.  Maria  Magg.  Laurentius  at  first  submitted  and  was 
made  bishop  of  Nocera,  Campania,  but  his  party  pressed  his  case,  and  it  was 
not  till  four  years  had  passed  that,  forced  by  the  decrees  of  synods  and  the 
attitude  of  Theodoric,  he  withdrew  permanently  from  Rome. 

*  Stephen  III,  768-772.  The  antipope  Constantine  II,  the  creature  of  his 
brother,  Duke  Toto,  was  deposed  by  a  Lateran  synod,  769,  which  also  enacted 
a  rule  against  the  election  of  laymen  to  the  papal  chair.  Constantine's  eyes 
were  put  out,  as  Huss  has  said  before. 

8  Benedict  III,  855-858.  Anastasius  had  resisted  Benedict's  predecessor, 
Leo  IV,  and,  receiving  the  support  of  the  imperial  legates,  forced  his  way  into 
the  Lateran  and  had  Benedict  torn  from  his  throne.  The  clergy  and  people 
of  Rome  were  against  him  and  he  was  obliged  to  withdraw.  Of  his  end  there 
is  no  credible  account. 


THE  LAW  OF   GOD  179 

(5)  A.  D.  907  Pope  Leo  presided,  and  against  him  rose 
up  Christophorus.^ 

(6)  A.  D.  968  a  synod  of  bishops  was  collected  from  all 
Italy,  and  Pope  John  was  disgraced  for  nefarious  crimes,  and, 
because  he  excused  himself  and  delayed  to  come,  another, 
Leo,  up  to  that  time  a  layman,  was  made  pope  by  a  unani- 
mous election  and  with  the  emperor's  consent.  And  so  Leo 
performed  ordinations  and  did  other  acts  which  were  apos- 
tolic. Not  long  afterward  the  Romans,  proving  faithless 
to  the  emperor,  received  Pope  John.  He  assembled  a  synod 
and  deposed  Leo  and  set  aside  his  acts,  and  it  was  decreed 
by  Leo  that  the  synod  was  not  to  be  called  a  synod  but  a 
brothel  because  it  favored  adultery.  Whoever,  therefore, 
were  condemned  by  his  decree  were  commanded  to  present 
his  proscription  of  them  in  a  writing  containing  these  things, 
"My  father  had  nothing  for  himself,  gave  nothing  to  me," 
and  so  these  remained  deposed  from  those  positions  which 
they  had  who  had  not  been  ordained  by  Leo.  This  Pope 
John  was  found  lying  with  a  man's  wife,  was  struck  through 
during  the  commission  of  adultery,  and  died  without  the 
Lord's  viaticum .2 

(7)  It  happened  that  the  Romans — violating  the  oath 
which  they  had  made  to  the  emperor  never  to  elect  a  pope  with- 
out his  consent  or  the  consent  of  his  son  Otto — made  Bene- 
dict pope.  But  the  emperor,  besieging  Rome,  so  afflicted 
the  Romans  that  they  promised  to  receive  Leo  as  pope,  and 
so  Benedict  was  dismissed.^ 

1  Leo  V,  903,  pope,  died  in  prison.  Christophorus  vwas  deposed  by  Leo 
and  seems  to  have  been  murdered. 

2  John  XII,  one  of  the  dissolute  popes,  955-964,  was  condemned  by  a  Roman 
synod  for  perjury,  murder,  sacrilege  and  almost  every  crime  and  his  place 
filled  by  the  election  of  Leo  VIII,  but  John  was  received  again  by  the  Roman 
people.  While  the  emperor  Otto  was  on  his  way  to  Rome  to  settle  matters, 
John,  as  Huss  says,  was  put  to  death  while  he  was  in  the  act  of  adultery,  an 
act  worthy  of  Marozia,  whose  grandson  he  was. 

'  Benedict  V,  964-966.  Leo  VIII,  at  Otto  I's  instance,  was  elected  pope. 
After  Otto's  departure  from  Rome,  John  XII  entered  the  city  and  expelled 
Leo.    John  died  964,  and  the  Romans  elected  Benedict  V.    The  emperor  set 


i8o  THE   CHURCH 

(8)  A.  D.  1047  Benedict,  who  got  into  the  papacy  by 
simony,  an  illiterate  man,  had  another  consecrated  pope  with 
himself  to  perform  the  ecclesiastical  duties  for  him — namely, 
Sylvester;  and,  as  this  did  not  please  many,  a  third  was  brought 
in  who  was  to  fill  the  places  of  the  other  two. 

(9)  A.  D.  1046,  when  at  Rome  one  pope  was  contending 
against  two  and  two  against  one  over  the  papacy.  King 
Henry  proceeded  to  Rome  against  them;  and  when  they  were 
deposed,  Clement  was  chosen  to  preside.  By  him  Henry 
was  consecrated  emperor,  and  the  Romans  swore  never  again 
to  elect  a  pope  without  the  emperor's  consent.  Then  was 
constituted  the  law.  III  Reg.,  2,  that,  following  the  example 
of  Solomon,  the  king  in  case  of  necessity  is  bound  to  depose 
the  pontiff.  Then  King  Henry  humbly  received  at  the  hands 
of  Clement  consecration,  and  thereafter  without  such  con- 
firmation no  other  was  to  be  regarded  as  emperor.  But 
why  was  this  necessary  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  God, 
since,  prior  to  the  institution  of  the  cardinals,  it  was  held  that 
the  pope  was  elected  by  the  people  of  Rome?^ 

(10)  A.  D.  1068,  while  two  were  contending  at  Rome  for 
the  papacy  and  Alexander,  after  he  had  established  his  inno- 
cence against  the  charge  of  simony,  was  received  and  Cada- 
lus,  bishop  of  Parma,  condemned.  Hence,  it  was  said:  "Ca- 
dalus,  in  Parma,  was  made  by  me  bow  and  arms.  Cadalus 
died;  Parma  was  made  a  ruin."  ^ 

(11)  A.  D.  1083  Henry  broke  into  the  city  of  Rome  and 
placed  Wibert  in  the  apostolic  chair.  Hildebrand  departed 
to  Beneventum,  where  he  remained  till  his  death.^ 

him  aside  and  restored  Leo  VIII,  Benedict  being  placed  under  charge  of  the 
archbishop  of  Hamburg  and  dying  in  Germany. 

^  The  three  popes  disposed  of  at  Sutri,  1046. 

^Alexander  II,  1061-1073,  gave  offense  by  being  elected  by  the  cardinals 
and  entering  upon  the  papacy  without  the  emperor's  confirmation.  Agnes, 
the  queen  regent  and  mother  of  Henry  IV,  called  a  synod,  which  elected  Cad- 
alus, of  Parma,  known  as  Honorius  II.     The  latter  died  1072. 

'  This  is  the  famous  Wibert  of  Ravenna,  Clement  III,  who  was  elected  anti- 
pope  at  the  instance  of  Henry  IV  against  Henry's  opponent,  Gregory  VII. 


THE  LAW  OF   GOD  i8i 

(12)  A.  D.  1087  Desiderius,  called  also  Victor,  was  made 
pope  against  Clement.^ 

(13)  A.  D.  1091  there  were,  it  is  said,  two,  who  were  called 
Roman  pontiffs,  at  discord  one  with  the  other  and  drawing 
about  the  church  of  God,  divided  between  themselves.  Urban, 
who  first  had  been  bishop  of  Ostia,  and  Clement,  called  Wibert, 
who  had  been  bishop  of  Ravenna. 

(14)  A.  D.  1 130,  when  Innocent  was  ruling  as  pope,  Peter 
Leoni  thrust  himself  in  and  was  called  Anacletus,  and  In- 
nocent passed  over  into  France.^     Hence  it  is  said: 

"  Peter  has  Rome,  Gregory  the  whole  world." 

(15)  A.  D.  1 189  Pope  Albert  ruled,  against  whom  Octa- 
vian  thrust  himself  in,  but  he  died  in  schism,  and  so  also 
Guido  of  Crema;  but  John,  who  had  thrust  himself  in,  was 
reconciled  .3 

And  so  within  a  centenary  of  years  from  the  time  of  the 
dotation  of  the  church  a  notable  contention  occurred  between 
popes;  and  in  our  times  there  was  begun  the  two-headed 
schism  between  Urban  VI,  who  lived  at  Rome,  and  Robert 
of  Geneva,  who  held  his  seat  in  Avignon ;  and  this  two-headed 
split  lasted  between  their  successors  until  A.  D.  1409.  In 
that  year  both  popes  were  condemned  at  the  council  of 
Pisa  as  heretics,  namely  Gregory  and  Benedict,  and  Alex- 
ander, of  the  Franciscan  order,  was  elected  pope.*    And  when 

Wibert,  "the  usurper  of  the  holy  see,"  was  the  only  one  of  his  enemies  that 
Gregory  refused  to  forgive  on  his  death-bed.-  Henry  was  crowned  emperor  by 
Wibert  in  St.  Peter's.    Hildebrand  died  1085  at  Salerno,  not  at  Beneventum. 

'  Victor  III,  1087,  was  the  legitimate  pope  as  against  Wibert. 

^Anacletus  II,  antipope  1130-1138,  the  son  of  a  Jew  of  Rome  and  elected 
by  the  majority  of  the  cardinals.  Innocent  II,  1130-1143,  elected  by  a  minor- 
ity had  the  support  of  Bernard  and  the  emperor.  Anacletus's  last  supporter 
was  Roger  of  Sicily.     See  Schaff,  Ch.  Hist.,  V,  part  i,  9455. 

^  Albert  was  antipope  at  the  time  of  Pascal  II;  Octavian,  Victor  IV,  under 
Alexander  III  in  the  days  of  Barbarossa,  and  Guido  at  Victor's  death,  1164, 
elected  antipope  under  the  name  of  Pascal  III. 

*  At  the  death  of  Gregory  XI,  the  Avignon  pope,  in  Rome,  1378,  Urban  VI, 
an  Italian,  was  made  pope  under  circumstances  the  most  sensational.  See 
Schaff,  C/?.  ^w/.,  V,  part  2,  ii-j  sqq.     This  election  was  followed  by  the  election 


i82  THE  CHURCH 

he  died  there  remained  three  to  contend  for  the  papacy, 
Pope  John  XXHI,  Gregory  in  Sicily  and  Benedict  in  Spain. 
But  from  what  moving  cause  this  diabolical  strife  originally 
came,  even  the  bhnd  can  discern,  namely,  from  the  dotation. 
Hence,  St.  Jerome,  in  his  Lives  of  the  Fathers,  wrote:  ''As 
the  church  increased  in  possessions,  she  decreased  in  vir- 
tues." And  what  is  set  down  as  a  probability  by  the  Chron- 
icles seems  clear,  as  narrated  by  Castrensis,  4  :  86,  who  de- 
scribes how,  '  at  the  time  of  the  dotation  of  the  church,  an 
angelic  voice^  was  heard  in  the  air,  saying,  that  day  poison 
was  infused  in  the  holy  church  of  God.  For,  however  it 
came  to  be,  this  is  true:  either  a  good  angel  or  a  devil  uttered 
the  voice,  because  it  is  certain  that  demons,  who  rejoice  when 
they  do  evil,  are  bound  to  serve  God  and  to  be  messengers 
of  the  truth,  and  it  becomes  God  by  the  mammon  of  iniquity 
to  announce  in  advance  to  the  people  their  danger.'  From 
these  things  the  faithful  are  able  to  form  a  judgment  whether 
any  one,  by  the  mere  fact  that  he  is  called  pope,  is  indeed 
the  chief  pontiff  of  the  church  and  the  most  blessed  father, 
and  in  matters  of  the  faith  learned  above  all  worshippers  of 
Christ,  and  whether  he  is  the  head  of  God's  holy  church. 

of  the  notorious  French  cardinal,  Robert  of  Geneva,  by  the  Avignonese  car- 
dinals, and  the  papal  schism  followed,  lasting  1378-1417,  with  one  pope  at 
Rome  and  another  at  Avignon.  The  council  of  Pisa,  1409,  attempted  to  bring 
the  schism  to  an  end  by  the  election  of  Peter  Philargi,  cardinal  of  Milan,  Alex- 
ander V,  who  appears  prominently  in  the  history  of  Huss.  He  lived  only  a  year 
after  his  election,  and  was  followed  by  John  XXHI,  who  was  deposed  by  the 
council  of  Constance,  141 5.  After  receiving  the  resignation  of  Gregory  XII,  of 
the  Roman  line,  and  deposing  Benedict  XIII,  the  last  of  the  Avignon  popes, 
the  council,  141 7,  finally  terminated  the  schism  by  the  election  of  Martin  V. 

'  Rolls  Series,  5  :  130.  Trevisa's  translation  runs:  "The  olde  enemy  cryde 
openliche  in  the  ayer."  Castrensis  quotes  Jerome's  words  as  given  by  Huss, 
and  he  adds  that  "when  Constantine  was  baptized  of  Sylvester,  he  opened 
the  prisons,  destroyed  the  temples  of  the  idols,  built  new  and  restored  old 
churches,  endowing  them  with  spiritual  privileges  and  immunities  and  assigned 
one-tenth  of  all  his  possessions  to  the  churches  and,  at  the  repairing  of  St. 
Peter's,  turned  the  first  spade  of  earth  and  carried  ten  baskets  full  of  earth 
on  his  shoulders,"  etc. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
HUSS'S  RESISTANCE  TO  PAPAL  AUTHORITY 

Further,  as  for  the  principal  thing  according  to  which 
they  believe  all  their  sayings  to  be  necessary  or  true,  the 
afore-mentioned  doctors  lay  down  that  "  obedience  is  due  to 
the  apostolic  see  and  to  prelates  from  inferiors  in  all  things 
whatsoever,  where  the  purely  good  is  not  prohibited  or  the 
purely  evil  commanded,  but  also  in  that  which  is  intermediate, 
which,  in  view  of  the  mode,  place,  time  or  person,  may  be 
either  good  or  bad  in  accordance  with  the  Saviour's  state- 
ment. Matt.  23  :  2 :  '  Whatsoever  they  bid  you,  these  do  and 
observe.'  "  And  they  add  the  following  from  Bernard's  Letter 
to  Adam  the  Monk  [Migne's  ed.,  182  :  95],  which  begins 
thus:  "  'If  thou  remain  in  love,  the  law  for  obedience  is  fixed 
as  in  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  which  was 
in  the  midst  of  paradise.'  In  such  things  certainly  it  is  not 
right  to  submit  our  interpretation  to  the  opinion  of  the  mag- 
isters,  and  in  such  things  neither  the  command  nor  the  pro- 
hibition of  prelates  is  in  any  wise  to  be  spurned." 

And  they  add:  "But  some  of  the  clergy  in  the  kingdom 
of  Bohemia  refuse  to  agree  to  this,  endeavoring,  as  much  as 
in  them  lies,  to  lead  the  faithful  people  to  disobedience  to- 
wards prelates  and  to  irreverence  towards  the  papal,  epis- 
copal, sacerdotal  and  clerical  dignities,  not  giving  attention 
to  that  which  St.  Augustine  says  in  the  words  (Sermon 
8):  *If  thou  hast  fasted,  hast  made  prayer  night  and  day, 
if  thou  hast  been  in  ashes  or  begging,  if  thou  hast  done  noth- 
ing else  except  what  is  prescribed  for  thee  in  the  law  and 
thou  hast  been  wise  in  thine  own  sight  and  not  obedient  to 

183 


i84  THE  CHURCH 

thy  father — understand,  not  bodily  father,  but  spiritual — • 
thou  hast  lost  all  virtues.  Therefore  obedience  is  worth 
more  than  all  the  other  moral  virtues.' " 

By  the  combination  of  the  above  sayings  the  doctors 
mix  up  the  false  with  the  true,  flattery  with  fear,  and  these 
three  things  are  involved  in  these  words:  "Certain  of  the 
clergy" — here  having  in  mind  our  party — "refuse  to  agree 
to  this,  endeavoring  as  much  as  in  them  lies  to  lead  the  faith- 
ful people  to  disobedience."  See  what  a  false  lie  this  is,  by 
which  they  indicate  that  we  are  become  seducers  of  the 
people,  when  it  is  (i)  not  the  purpose  of  our  side  to  seduce  the 
people  from  real  obedience,  but  that  the  people  may  be  one, 
governed  harmoniously  by  the  law  of  Christ.  (2)  The  pur- 
pose of  our  side  is  that  the  rules  of  antichrist  shall  not 
seduce  or  separate  the  people  from  Christ,  but  that  the  law 
of  Christ  shall  honestly  rule  in  connection  with  the  customs 
of  the  people  so  far  as  they  are  approved  by  God's  law.  (3) 
The  purpose  of  our  side  is  that  the  clergy  live  honestly  ac- 
cording to  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ,  laying  aside  pomp, 
avarice  and  luxury.  (4)  Our  side  wishes  and  preaches  that 
the  church  militant,  in  its  different  parts  which  God  has 
ordained,  be  honestly  commingled,  namely,  of  Christ's  priests 
those  who  administer  his  law  in  purity,  and  from  the  world 
the  nobles  who  press  for  the  observance  of  the  ordinances  of 
Christ  and  the  common  people,  both  these  parts  serving  in 
accordance  with  Christ's  law.  Therefore,  let  the  doctors  be- 
stow this  wrong  on  our  side.  But  the  flattery  which  they 
show  to  prelates  and  the  fear  with  which  they  would  affright 
our  side  are  involved  in  the  words:  "endeavouring  to  lead 
the  faithful  people  to  disobedience  towards  prelates,  and  ir- 
reverence towards  the  papal,  episcopal,  sacerdotal  and  cler- 
ical dignities."  Blessed  be  Christ  Jesus  that  they  have  not 
dared  to  lay  on  us  the  calumny  of  disobedience  to  Jesus 
Christ — or  perhaps  they  have  forgotten  to  do  so,  for  to  serve 
j  him  is  to  reign,  and  obedience  rendered  to  him  avails  so  much 


HUSS'S  RESISTANCE  TO  THE  POPE         185 

that  it  is  of  no  advantage  to  obey  any  one  except  in  so  far 
as  such  obedience  is  obedience  to  our  God. 

Wherefore,  as  to  that  saying  of  the  doctors,  "  that  obe- 
dience is  due  to  the  apostolic  see  of  the  Roman  church  and 
to  prelates  by  inferiors  in  all  things,"  etc.  [we  proceed  as  fol- 
lows] : 

As  for  obedience,  this  is  to  be  said:  It  is  to  be  noted  that 
obedience  first  is  to  be  understood  by  analogy  or  in  a  very 
general  sense,  as  is  the  loyalty  of  any  created  thing  whatso- 
ever, in  respect  to  the  divine  will  which  all  created  things 
obey,  without  resistance — repugnantia — even  as  a  stone  obeys 
by  falling  or  tending  downwards,  or  fire  by  rising  and  the  sun 
by  illuminating,  and  so  in  regard  to  all  other  created  things. 
Or  else  obedience  is  rendered  with  resistance,  as  the  devil  or 
a  damned  man  who  obeys  by  suffering  because  he  must.  And 
in  this  way  the  saints  speak  when  they  say  that  all  things 
obey  their  Creator,  and  man  alone,  the  sinner,  does  not  obey; 
that  is,  the  sinner  does  not  submit  to  the  rule  of  the  Creator 
without  resistance  on  the  part  of  his  will.  But  obedience, 
so  far  as  it  is  an  act  of  virtue  or  is  virtue,  is  thus  de- 
scribed by  some,  namely,  obedience  is  the  subjection  of  our 
own  will  to  the  will  and  judgment  of  a  superior  in  things 
lawful  and  honest — or  obedience  is  the  disposition  to  fol- 
low voluntarily  a  superior's  command  in  things  lawful  and 
honest. 

The  first  kind  is  exhibited  in  acts,  the  second  in  the  dis- 
position. And  from  these  definitions,  it  follows  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  obedience  in  the  case  of  things  unlawful.  And 
so  obedience  is  correlated  to  that  which  is  good,  disobedience 
to  that  which  is  evil.  But  the  first  definition  seems  to 
me  to  be  wanting  in  this,  that  obedience  is  a  more  gen- 
eral thing  than  submission,  since  obedience  is  becoming  in 
God  and  submission  is  not,  for  God  obeyed  a  man's  voice, 
for  it  is  said,  Joshua  10  :  14:  "There  was  no  day  like  to  it 
before  or  after,  that  God  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  a  man 


i86  THE  CHURCH 

and  fought  for  Israel."  Nevertheless  God,  the  Trinity,  was 
not  subject  to  man,  or  under  a  man  as  a  lesser  to  a  greater. 
Nor  is  all  obedience  to  the  will  of  a  superior,  for  Christ  was 
subject  to  his  parents,  Luke  2  :  51.  And  it  is  certain  that, 
I  as  among  others  born  of  women  a  greater  than  John  the 
Baptist  hath  not  arisen,  so  Christ  was  infinitely  greater  than 
Joseph  or  Mary. 

Therefore,  as  Christ  did  nothing  but  what  he  ought  to 
have  done,  it  is  plain  that  the  greater  ought  to  be  subject 
to  the  lesser,  that  is,  be  obedient  to  him;  for  whatever  the 
fountain  of  religion,  as  the  chief  of  all,  may  teach,  that  is 
to  be  held.  Hence  Christ,  who  was  of  a  twofold  nature, 
was  obedient  in  a  twofold  sense,  for  (i)  he  obeyed  God,  his 
Father,  in  all  things,  as  being  on  the  side  of  his  humanity 
less  than  the  Father,  for  he  himself  said:  "The  Father  is 
greater  than  I,"  John  14  :  28.  And  (2)  he  was  obedient  to  his 
parents  as  to  the  lesser.  And  he  was  also  obedient  to  others 
and  endured  willingly  at  their  hands,  and  he  is  obedient  to 
true  and  holy  Christians,  supplying  their  need  and  filling  up 
their  desires.  And  it  is  clear  that  the  conclusion  does  not 
follow:  because  one  obeys  another,  therefore  he  is  less  than 
the  other.  Similarly,  it  does  not  follow  that,  because  one 
serves  another,  therefore  he  is  less  than  the  other.  For 
Christ  obeyed  another  man  and  served  him,  wherefore  he 
said,  Isaiah  43  :  24:  "Thou  hast  made  me  to  serve  in  thy 
sins,  thou  hast  put  upon  me  toil  in  thy  iniquities.  I  am  he 
that  blotteth  out  thy  iniquities  for  my  own  sake,  and  I  will 
not  remember  thy  sins.  Put  me  in  remembrance  that  we 
may  be  judged  together."  He  also  said:  "The  Son  of  Man 
came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister,"  Matt.  20  :  28. 
And  the  apostle  was  speaking  of  him  when  he  said :  "  Christ 
emptied  himself,  taking  the  form  of  a  servant,"  Phil.  2:7. 
And  it  is  also  said,  John  13  :  4:  "He  girded  himself  with  a 
towel,  poured  water  in  a  basin  and  washed  his  disciples'  feet." 
Hence  he  is  not  falsely  but  truly  a  bishop,  a  servant  of  the 


HUSS'S  RESISTANCE  TO  THE  POPE         187 

servants  of  God/  not  only  a  Roman  bishop  but,  in  a  general 
way  he  is  the  bishop  of  all  the  churches.  He  is  himself  the 
bishop  of  Prague.  But,  as  he  is  a  servant  or  minister  not 
by  the  compulsion  of  civil  law,  because  a  life  where  activi- 
ties are  moved  by  compulsion  did  not  befit  him,  so  he  is  the 
bishop  of  souls,  not  of  secular  riches  or  possessions,  for  he 
as  bishop,  lowly  and  meek,  mounted  the  foal  of  an  ass,  as  is 
attested  by  Zech.  9  :  9.  And  he  said:  "Foxes  have  holes, 
and  the  birds  of  heaven  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  Man  hath 
not  where  to  lay  his  head,"  Matt.  8  :  20.  Why  was  this? 
The  apostle  gives  the  reason  when  he  says:  "Ye  know  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who^  for  our  sakes  became 
poor,  that  we  through  his  poverty  might  be  made  rich," 
II  Cor.  8  :  9. 

The  second  definition  of  obedience  is  also  defective,  as  is 
seen  from  what  has  already  been  said,  because  it  states  that 
obedience  is  the  disposition  to  follow  the  command  of  a  su- 
perior. For  all  obedience  is  not  with  respect  to  a  superior 
to  whom  the  obedience  is  rendered,  or  with  respect  to  a  com- 
mand. For  sometimes  obedience  is  with  respect  to  an  in- 
ferior, as  has  been  said  already.  And  obedience  is  also  related 
to  counsel,  as  when  a  man  obeys  the  counsels  of  God,  which  he 
is  not  under  obhgation  to  obey  under  any  pain  of  mortal  sin. 
Obedience  is  also  related  to  entreaty,  as  when  God  obeyed  at 
Joshua's  entreaty,  bidding  the  sun  stand  still  over  Gibeon  and 
not  be  moved  towards  its  setting.  Hence  Jerome,  Ep.  1 13,  says : 
"God  sometimes  seems  to  obey  the  prayers  of  the  saints." 
And  it  is  clear  that  obedience  is  sometimes  a  fulfilment  of 
a  command,  sometimes  of  a  counsel,  and  sometimes  of  an 
entreaty,  which  is  neither  a  command  nor  a  counsel.  And 
sometimes  it  is  the  result  of  persuasion,  the  way  in  which 
the  devil  persuaded  Christ,  Matt.  4  :  5,  to  go  with  him  to 

*  A  title  used  by  Gregory  the  Great  ia  his  letters,  and  common  in  Huss's 
time;  Boniface's  bull  Unam  sanctam  opens  in  that  way:  "Bon.,  bishop,  the 
servant  of  the  servants  of  God." 

'^Qui.    Vulgate:  quoniam,  because. 


i88  THE   CHURCH 

the  holy  city  and  to  a  very  high  mountain,  and  Christ  in  a 
most  virtuous  way  consented  to  this  and  fulfilled  the  devil's 
will.  And  so  in  view  of  this  distinction,  it  is  to  be  said  that 
to  obey  is  to  truly  fulfil  another's  will,  and  for  this  reason 
obedience  always  involves  the  relation  of  one  to  another. 
But  this  is  not  the  case  with  other  virtues,  as  for  example, 
continence  and  temperance. 

From  these  things  it  is  gathered  that  obedience,  like 
humility,  is  of  three  kinds:  namely,  of  the  greater  to  the 
less — which  is  the  highest  form  of  obedience; — of  an  equal  to 
an  equal — which  is  the  intermediate  form; — and  of  the  less 
to  the  greater — which  is  the  lowest  form.  To  the  last  the 
first  definition  of  obedience  applies — namely,  that  obedience 
is  the  subjection  of  one's  own  will  to  the  will  of  a  superior 
in  things  lawful  and  right.  And  it  may  be  defined  thus: 
obedience  is  an  act  of  the  will  of  a  rational  creature  by  vir- 
tue of  which  he  voluntarily  and  intelligently  submits  him- 
self to  his  superior:  and  such  obedience  is  related  to  what 
is  good,  just  as  disobedience  is  related  to  what  is  evil.  In 
both  cases,  however,  it  pertains  to  the  rational  creature  and 
his  subjection.  And  secondly,  it  refers  fundamentally  to  ac- 
tivity, suffering,  silence  or  any  other  activity  of  this  sort  to 
which  the  command  is  directed. 

Hence,  as  all  sin  is  disobedience  and  as  disobedience  is 
related  to  sin,  and  as  every  good  man  obeys  God,  so  every 
sinner  is  disobedient.  But  obedience  may  be  in  the  under- 
standing and  the  will — in  the  understanding,  which  discerns 
that  obedience  ought  to  be  rendered  in  given  cases;  and  in 
the  will,  which  yields  consent  to  him  who  commands.  But 
its  results  are  shown  in  certain  powers  within  and  in  an  ex- 
ternal effect.  And,  because  there  is  found  in  Scripture  good 
obedience  and  evil  disobedience,  it  is  clear  what  the  good  is; 
and  of  the  evil  it  was  said  to  Adam,  Gen.  3  :  17:  "Because 
thou  hast  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  thy  wife  rather  than 
unto  my  voice,  cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake."     It  is 


HUSS'S  RESISTANCE  TO  THE  POPE         189 

also  said,  "Why  do  ye  also  transgress  the  commandments  of 
God,  because  of  your  traditions,"  Matt.  15  :  3,  and,  "We 
must  obey  God  rather  than  men,"  Acts  5  :  29. 

Hence,  whenever  obedience  is  rendered  to  man  rather 
than  God,  as  Adam  obeyed  Eve,  then  it  is  always  evil  obe- 
dience, so  that  every  one  obeying  evilly  is  disobedient  to  God ; 
and  so  it  is  that  the  same  man  may  be  obedient  and  disobe- 
dient, with  respect  to  the  different  persons  commanding  or 
to  different  commands.  And  it  does  not  follow  that,  because 
a  beloved  man^  is  disobedient,  therefore  he  is  not  obedient, 
but  it  does  follow  that  the  man  is  not  obedient  to  him  with 
respect  to  whom  he  is  disobedient  or  with  respect  to  whose 
commands  he  is  disobedient.  And  it  is  clear  that  to  obey 
in  one's  brotherhood  [religious  community]  is  to  fulfil  the  will 
of  the  one  giving  commands,  and  this  is  well,  as  when  a  man 
or  a  created  spirit  living  in  grace  fulfils  the  lawful  will  of 
the  one  giving  commands.  But  to  obey  is  bad  when  either 
living  in  sin  one  fulfils  the  will  of  a  superior  as  to  a  given 
command,  as  when  one  who  lives  in  luxury,  fasts  from  re- 
spect to  the  command;  or,  secondly,  when  one  fulfils  a  bad 
command  against  God.  In  view  of  these  things  it  is  clear 
that  it  is  impossible  for  a  rational  creature  to  be  virtuous 
morally  unless  he  is  obedient  to  his  God. 

And  so  it  must  be  known  that,  according  to  St.  Thomas 
[Aquinas]  2  :  104,  art.  5  [Migne's  ed.,  3  :  798],^  obedience 
is  threefold,  namely,  sufficient,  perfect  and  unreasoning.  Suf- 
ficient obedience  is  that  which  obeys  only  in  those  things 
where  the  obligation  is  of  natural  law  and  does  not  go  be- 

^ "  Beloved  man,"  literally,  Sortes,  an  abbreviation  for  Socrates  and  a  general 
term  common  with  writers  in  the  Middle  Ages  for  a  person  dear  to  us.  Huss 
uses  it  in  his  de  Corpore,  Flajshans,  ed.,  p.  22,  and  very  frequently  in  his  Com. 
on  the  Lombard's  Sentences.  "This  human  species  is  Sortes  [Socrates],  this 
Plato,"  p.  47.  "Sortes  and  Plato  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  res — and  so  do 
not  really — realiler — differ,"  p.  54.  "  The  body  of  Christ  is  not  in  the  sacrament 
as  Sortes  is  in  a  definite  place  and  only  in  one  place  at  one  time,"  p.  566,  etc. 

^  The  distinction  is  taken  from  Th.  Aquinas.  Huss  gives  in  his  own  lan- 
guage the  substance  of  Thomas's  treatment. 


190  THE  CHURCH 

yond  the  limits  of  its  own  station.  That  is  sufficient  obe- 
dience by  which  any  one  obeys  in  those  things  to  which  he 
is  expressly  obligated,  and  examples  of  this  there  are  in 
holy  Scripture.  For  children  are  bound  to  obey  their  par- 
ents, according  to  the  apostle  where  he  says :  "  Children, 
obey  your  parents  in  all  things,"  Col.  3  :  20.  This  is  to  be 
understood  only  to  apply  to  those  things  which  concern  the 
outer  course  of  Hfe  and  household  care,  as  Thomas  says. 
Similarly,  servants  are  bound  to  obey  their  masters:  "Obey 
your  masters  according  to  the  flesh  in  all  things,"  Col.  3:22, 
and,  "Servants,  be  in  subjection  to  your  masters  in  all  fear, 
not  only  to  the  good  and  gentle,  but  also  to  the  froward," 

1  Peter  2  :  18.  These  texts  are  to  be  understood  only  of 
those  things  which  apply  to  servile  acts  lawful  to  be  per- 
formed, as  Thomas  also  says.  Wives  are  held  to  obey  their 
husbands  according  to  the  words  of  the  apostle,  as  above, 
and  also  of  Peter  [I  Peter  3:1]:  "Wives,  be  in  subjection 
to  your  husbands  in  the  Lord."  This  is  to  be  understood 
only  of  those  things  which  pertain  to  external  marital  con- 
duct so  far  as  such  conduct  is  lawful. 

Similarly,  all  Christians  are  bound  to  obey  the  secular 
power,  each  in  his  own  rank,  as  the  apostle  says,  Titus 
3:1:  "Put  them  in  mind  to  be  in  subjection  to  rulers  and 
powers,"  and,  Romans  13  :  i,  "Let  every  soul  be  subject 
unto  the  higher  powers."  Here  the  apostle  proves  that 
every  man  is  in  duty  bound  to  obey  his  superiors,  both  in 
secular  and  spiritual  affairs,  because  God's  servants  are  or- 
dained, the  good  to  be  guided,  purged  and  to  praise;  but 
the  evil  to  be  corrected,  punished  and  to  wrath,  because 
there  is  no  power  but  of  God,  and  he  that  resisteth  the  power 
resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God.      With  this  Thomas  agrees, 

2  :  14,  art.  6  [Migne's  ed.,  3  :  798].  And  all  this  subjection 
or  obedience  is  understood  among  those  ranks  over  which 
the  superiors  have  lawful  authority,  and  in  those  cases  when 
they  command  righteous  commands  and  not  otherwise.    The 


HUSS'S  RESISTANCE  TO  THE  POPE         191 

Glossa  ordinaria  also  agrees  in  its  comment  on  the  words: 
"the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God"  [Romans  13  :  i]. 
The  Master  of  Sentences  also  agrees,  2  :  44  [Migne's  ed.,  p. 
246]. 

Perfect  obedience  is  that  whereby  the  person  obeying 
places  all  his  willing  and  not  willing — velle  et  nolle — in  the 
will  of  his  prelate,  to  do  the  acts  commanded,  so  long  as  the 
command  does  not  gainsay  the  divine  will  or  good  morals 
or  the  necessities  of  life,  and  so  long  as  it  does  not  conflict 
with  the  commands  and  counsels  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
And  because  obedience  appertains  to  commands  and  coun- 
sels, the  difference  is  to  be  noted  between  a  command  and  an 
evangelical  counsel,  so  far  as  they  may  be  distinguished  as 
opposites.^ 

A  precept  or  command  is  a  general  teaching  of  God,  obli- 
gating every  man  under  pain  of  mortal  sin — namely,  in  cases 
in  which  he  has  fallen  away  from  the  command.  Hence  the 
saints  who  for  a  period  of  their  life  lived  hypocritically  sinned 
mortally  for  that  period.  So  also  the  damned,  by  persist- 
ent false  living  sin  persistently  in  hell. 

A  counsel  is  a  special  teaching  of  God,  obligating  under 
pain  only  of  venial  sin  and  for  the  period  of  this  life.  And 
so  the  doctors  say  that  precepts  are  for  the  imperfect,  ob- 
ligating them  for  the  reason  that  they  are  servants.     But 

*  Huss  is  making  the  distinction  between  the  mandates  of  the  Scriptures — 
prcscepta — such  as  the  duties  enjoined  by  the  Ten  Commandments  and  the 
evangelical  counsels  or  counsels  of  perfection,  evangelica  consilia.  He  takes 
it  up  in  his  Com.  on  the  Lombard,  pp.  482,  488  sqq.  The  counsels  are  voluntary 
poverty,  voluntary  chastity  and  absolute  obedience  to  the  earthly  ecclesias- 
tical superior,  as  to  an  abbot  or  a  bishop.  Origen  made  the  distinction  in  the 
third  century  and  based  it  on  two  kinds  of  morality.  The  mandates  are  for  all 
Christians  and  must  be  kept  in  order  to  salvation;  the  counsels  of  perfection 
for  the  higher  Christians  or  saints.  By  observing  the  counsels  of  perfection  one 
secures  a  higher  grade  of  merit  and  a  higher  place  in  heaven.  I  Cor.  7  :  25 
and  Christ's  words  to  the  rich  man  are  taken  to  justify  the  distinction.  The 
Protestant  Reformers  set  it  aside  as  unscriptural  and  tending  to  place  those 
who  take  the  three  vows  above  all  ordinary  mortals  who  follow  Christ  in  the 
usual  daily  avocations  of  life.  Thomas  Aquinas  sets  it  forth  at  length,  Sitmma, 
I  :  2sq.,  loS  sqq.  [Migne's  ed.,  2  :  8g4  sqq.]. 


192  THE  CHURCH 

counsels  are  for  the  perfect  which  obligate  above  what  is 
commonly  required  by  reason  and  everywhere  and  always  un- 
der pain  of  mortal  sin.  And  that  they  may  shun  the  occasion 
of  sin,  counsels  advise  them  as  friends.  Hence,  if  a  saint 
should  make  a  divine  counsel  an  occasion  of  falling  from  his 
height  into  mortal  sin — that  would  be  by  the  breaking  of 
the  first  command  and  not  by  a  refusal  to  obey  the  divine 
counsel.  But  in  the  heavenly  country  where  the  danger  and 
occasion  of  sin  do  not  exist,  the  counsel  is  not  spoken  of  in 
this  way.  For  in  the  heavenly  country  there  is  no  voluntary 
poverty  nor  is  there  any  savor  of  indigence.  This  Christ 
counselled  when  he  said,  Matt.  19  :  21:  "If  thou  wilt  be  per- 
fect, go  and  sell  all^  that  thou  hast." 

The  second  obedience  is  by  co-operative  submission  to  a 
superior,  of  which  it  is  said,  "  If  any  one  would  come  after  me, 
let  him  deny  himself,"  Luke  9  :  23,  as  does  the  beloved  disciple. 
And  in  heaven  there  is  no  struggling  against  chastity,  of  which 
it  is  said :  "  There  are  eunuchs  who  have  made  themselves  eu- 
nuchs for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake,"  Matt.  19  :  12.  Nor 
is  there  found  there  any  retaliation  against  adversaries,  of  which 
it  is  said:  ''Do  good  to  them  which  hate  you,"  Matt.  5  :  44. 
Nor  is  there  any  patient  endurance  of  those  who  smite  vio- 
lently, of  which  it  is  said:  "Whosoever  shall  smite  thee  on 
the  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also,"  Matt.  5  :  39. 
Nor  are  there  any  supererogatory  works  of  mercy  there,  about 
which  it  is  said,  "Give  to  every  one  that  asketh  of  thee," 
Luke  6  :  30;  nor  any  refraining  from  words  and  oaths,  of 
which  it  is  written:  "For  every  idle  word  which  men  shall 
speak  they  shall  give  account  in  the  day  of  judgment," 
Matt.  12  :  36,  and,  "I  say  unto  you,  swear  not  at  all,"  Matt. 
5  :  33.  Nor  will  there  be  left  the  occasion  to  commit  sin, 
of  which  it  is  said:  "If  thine  eye  cause  thee  to  stumble,  or 
foot,  or  hand,  pluck  it  out  and  cut  it  off  and  cast  it  from 
thee,"  Matt.  5  :  29.  Nor  will  there  be  any  easement  of  ac- 
*  Omnia  is  not  given  in  the  Vulgate. 


HUSS'S  RESISTANCE  TO  THE  POPE         193 

tivity,  lest  by  defect  of  pure  purpose  we  fall  into  hypocrisy,  of 
which  it  is  said:  "Take  heed  that  ye  do  not  your  alms  to 
be  seen  of  men,"  Matt.  6:1.  Nor  will  there  be  any  example 
of  conforming  one's  works  to  one's  words  such  as  Christ  spoke 
of:  "The  Pharisees  say  and  do  not,"  Matt.  23  :  3.  And  so  he 
counselled  the  hypocrite  to  "first  cast  out  the  beam  out  of 
his  own  eye,"  Luke  6  :  42.  Nor  will  there  be  there  the  care  of 
this  world,  choking  out  the  Word,  of  which  it  is  said:  "Be 
not  anxious,  saying  what  shall  we  eat,"  etc..  Matt.  6  :  31. 
Nor  will  there  be  any  reproving  of  the  brother,  of  which  it 
is  said:  "If  thy  brother  sin  against  thee,  go  and  rebuke  him 
between  thyself  and  him  alone,"  Matt.  18  :  15.  All  these 
twelve  counsels,  in  their  primary  form,  they  will  not  hold 
it  necessary  to  put  into  practice,  but  they  will  observe  them 
in  a  secondary  sense  and  form,  as  eternal  commands,  which 
are  healthful  in  the  way  unto  life. 

And  would  that  the  clergy,  and  especially  the  religious 
who  value  the  counsels  of  men,  and  that  all  others  who  de- 
pend on  human  counsel  might  hearken  unto  these  counsels 
of  the  heavenly  physician,  for  undoubtedly  they  are  pre- 
servatives against  possible  sins,  purgatives  for  sins  already 
committed,  and  conservatives  of  health  already  attained. 
Therefore,  all  pilgrims  are  obligated  to  keep  these  counsels 
or  some  of  them,  as  occasion  demands,  on  the  pain  of  venial 
sin.  And  in  order  to  pronounce  judgment  in  these  cases  the 
best  judge  will  be  cautious  in  regard  to  himself  when  he  is 
watching  out  that  he  may  not  fall  into  sin  by  failure  to  ob- 
serve any  one  of  these  twelve — that  he  does  not  act  quickly, 
lest  he  contemn  a  divine  counsel. 

And  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  twelfth  counsel,  namely, 
the  rebuke  of  a  brother,  sometimes  is  a  counsel  when  it  con- 
cerns venial  ofifences,  and  sometimes  a  command  when  it 
concerns  the  rebuke  of  mortal  sins.  And  this  second  kind 
of  rebuke  it  belongs  to  every  one  to  exercise,  and  it  is  al- 
ways obligatory,  but  not  on  all  occasions,  for,  as  to  place 


194  THE  CHURCH 

and  time,  rebuke  should  be  made  when  it  seems  likely  to  be 
useful. 

Up  to  this  point  it  is  to  be  noted  that  human  obedience 
is  threefold — spiritual,  secular  and  ecclesiastical — spiritual, 
which  is  due  purely  according  to  God's  law,  and  under  this 
kind  of  obedience  Christ  and  the  apostles  lived  and  each 
Christian  should  live.  Secular  obedience  is  obedience  due 
according  to  the  secular  code.  Ecclesiastical  obedience  is 
obedience  according  to  the  regulations  of  the  priests  of  the 
church  aside  from  the  express  authority  of  Scripture.  The 
first  kind  of  obedience  always  excludes  what  is  of  itself  evil, 
both  on  the  part  of  the  person  giving  the  command  and  on 
the  part  of  the  person  obeying.  For  he  who  commands  ac- 
cording to  God's  law  and  he  who  obeys  act  rightly,  and  of 
both  it  is  said:  "Thou  shalt  do  whatsoever  the  priests  the 
Levites  have  taught,  according  to  all  I  have  taught  them," 
Deut.  29  [Deut.  24  :  8]. 

Here  it  is  affirmed  that  he  who  commands  ought  only 
to  command  things  in  agreement  with  the  law,  and  the  per- 
son obeying  ought  to  the  same  extent  to  obey  them  and 
never  act  contrary  to  the  will  of  God  Almighty.  On  this  I 
have  in  another  place  quoted  Augustine,  Gregory,  Jerome, 
Chrysostom,  Isidore,  Bernard  and  Bede,  as  well  as  the 
Scripture  and  the  canons.  These  for  the  sake  of  brevity  I 
will  pass.  Only  let  the  saying  of  Isidore  be  given,  11  :  3 
[Friedberg,  i  :  672]:  "He  who  presides,  if  he  command  any- 
thing or  say  anything  otherwise  than  in  accordance  to  God's 
will  or  what  is  plainly  commanded  in  Holy  Scripture,  he 
shall  be  regarded  as  a  false  witness  of  God,  or  as  committing 
sacrilege." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE,  OR  CATHEDRA  PETRI 

Now  that  certain  statements  have  been  made  about 
obedience,  I  want  to  return  to  the  statement  of  the  doc- 
tors, in  which  it  appears  that  "obedience  is  to  be  rendered 
by  inferiors  to  the  apostolic  see^  of  the  Roman  church,  and 
to  the  prelates  in  all  things  whatsoever,  where  that  which 
is  purely  good  is  not  forbidden  and  that  which  is  not  purely 
evil  is  commanded,  but  also  in  that  which  is  intermediate," 
etc. 

And  here  consideration  must  be  had  of  the  apostolic  see, 
about  which  many,  and  especially  the  canonists,  predicate 
many  things,  who,  nevertheless,  are  ignorant  what  the  apos- 
tolic see  is.  For  some  think  that  it  really  is  a  seat  of  wood 
or  stone  in  which  the  pope  is  wont  to  sit  bodily.  Others 
think  that  it  is  the  Roman  curia;  others  that  it  is  the  seat 
of  St.  Peter,  in  which  he  sat  bodily;  others  that  it  is  Rome; 
others  that  it  is  the  pope's  power;  others  still  that  it  is  the 
church  or  basilica  of  St.  Peter.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
apostolic  is  derived  from  apostle,  and  apostle  means  one  sent 
from  God.  The  Saviour,  whom  God  sent,  said,  John  3  :  34: 
"I  speak  the  words  of  God."  Hence,  he  also  said  to  his  dis- 
ciples that  "as  the  Father  sent  me,  so  also  send  I  you,"  John 
20  :  21 — namely,  to  bear  testimony  to  the  truth,  to  preach 
the  word  of  salvation,  and,  by  Hfe  and  teaching,  to  show 
the  way  of  blessedness  to  the  people. 

Hence,  every  priest  who  is  not  seeking  his  own  glory  but 

^The  word  "see"  comes  from  sedes,  a  seat,  and  was  interchangeable  with 
the  Greek  word  thronos,  seat,  and  Latin  cathedra,  chair. 

19s 


196  THE  CHURCH 

the  honor  of  God,  the  prosperity  of  the  church  and  the  sal- 
vation of  the  people,  and  who  does  God's  will  and  uncovers 
the  wiles  of  antichrist,  preaching  the  law  of  Christ — he  has 
the  marks  which  show  that  God  sent  him. 

As  to  "glory,"  Christ  said:  "I  receive  not  glory  from 
men,"  John  5  :  41,  and,  "I  seek  not  mine  own  glory,"  John 
8  :  50.  As  to  the  second  thing,  he  said:  "I  came  in  my 
Father's  name  and  ye  received  me  not.  If  another  would 
come  in  his  own  name,  him  ye  will  receive,"  John  5  :  43. 
In  regard  to  the  third  thing,  Christ  sai.d:  "I  am  come  down 
from  heaven  not  to  do  mine  own  will  but  the  will  of  him 
that  sent  me,"  John  6  :  38.  Christ  so  did  because  he  sought 
the  prosperity  of  the  church  and  the  people's  salvation.  As 
for  the  fourth  thing,  he  said:  "The  world  hateth  me,  be- 
cause I  testify  of  it  that  its  works  are  evil,"  John  7  :  7.  And 
finally  Christ  shows  that  he  was  sent  from  God  to  do  the 
works  of  the  Father:  "If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Father, 
believe  me  not;  but  if  I  do  them,  though  ye  believe  not 
me,  believe  the  works,"  John  10  :  37. 

And  it  is  clear  that  the  righteous  conduct  of  a  priest  and 
his  fruitful  labor  in  Christ's  Word  show  to  the  people  that 
he  is  sent  from  God,  because  he  does  the  works  of  the  Father. 
Nor  should  a  man  be  pope,  bishop,  priest  or  deacon  unless 
he  be  so  sent  of  God,  and  hence  the  apostle  says:  "How 
shall  they  preach  unless  they  be  sent?"  Romans  10  :  15. 
Therefore,  St.  Augustine,  QucBstiones  Orosii,  65,  thus  answers 
the  question  of  Orosius  how  we  may  know  who  are  sent  by  God: 
"Recognize  that  one  as  sent  by  God  whom  the  praise  of  a 
few  men  or  rather  their  flattery  did  not  choose,  but  him 
whom  the  best  life  and  morals  and  examination  have  ap- 
proved to  the  judgment  of  apostolic  priests  or  all  the  people — 
the  man  who  does  not  hanker  after  pre-eminence,  who  does 
not  give  money  as  the  price  of  the  episcopal  honor.  For  he 
who  hastens  to  secure  pre-eminence,  as  one  of  the  Fathers 
finely  expresses  it,  'Let  him  know  that  it  does  not  profit 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  197 

him  to  be  a  bishop,  who  desires  pre-eminence.'"  Thus 
much  Augustine. 

It  being  understood  by  general  consent  what  an  apostle 
is,  we  can  understand  what  ''apostolic"  means.  For  apos- 
tolic means  keeping  the  way  of  an  apostle.  Just  as,  there- 
fore, a  true  Christian  is  one  who  follows  Christ  in  his  life, 
so  a  truly  apostoUc  man  is  the  priest  who  follows  the  teach- 
ing of  the  apostles,  living  the  life  of  an  apostle  and  teaching 
his  doctrine.  Hence,  any  pope  is  to  be  called  apostolic  so 
far  as  he  teaches  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles  and  follows 
them  in  works.  But,  if  he  puts  the  teaching  of  the  apostles 
aside,  teaching  in  word  or  works  what  is  contrary,  then  he 
is  properly  called  pseudo-apostolic  or  an  apostate.  Hence 
Dist.  97  [79  :  9,  Friedberg,  i  :  278]:  If  any  one  shall  be  en- 
throned in  the  papal  seat  on  account  of  money  or  human 
favor  or  by  the  help  of  a  popular  or  military  uprising,  with- 
out a  harmonious  and  canonical  election,  he  is  not  to  be 
considered  apostolic  but  apostate.  Since,  therefore,  the  error 
is  greater  in  an  active  election  when  those  electing  are  forced 
by  the  devil  to  elect  an  individual  whom  God  condemns — a 
thing  manifestly  certain  from  his  works  and  his  neglect  of 
the  spiritual  office,  that  he  is  at  variance  with  the  Hfe  of  the 
apostles — much  more  does  it  follow  that  such  an  individual 
is  to  be  deemed  not  apostolic  but  an  apostate. 

Therefore,  in  view  of  these  statements,  the  apostolic  seat 
may  be  called  the  life  of  the  priest  who  efficiently  maintains 
the  life  of  an  apostle,  just  as  the  seat  of  an  apostle  is  the 
life  of  an  apostle.  Hence  Chrysostom,  Horn.  25,  says  [Nic. 
Fathers,  10  :  395]:  "That  virtue  of  any  apostle  whereby  he 
may  have  been  more  perfect  than  the  rest,  that  is  his  throne. 
But  all  the  virtues  of  Christ  together  are,  as  it  were,  one  seat, 
because  he  was  equally  perfect  in  all  the  virtues,  and  he 
alone."  See  how  well  that  saint  perceives  that  the  individual 
life  of  each  of  Christ's  apostles  is  his  seat  in  which  he  reposes 
by  reason  of  his  merits  and  for  which  reason  he  now  sits  in 


198  THE  CHURCH 

the  glory  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  it  is  said :  "  Ye  also  shall  sit  upon 
twelve  seats,"  Matt.  19  :  28.  Here  Augustine  understands 
by  seats  the  location  of  the  apostles  and  of  all  holy  predes- 
tinated prelates  which,  since  it  is  in  blessedness,  cannot  cease 
to  be  or  suffer  destruction  at  the  hand  of  tyrants.  But  the 
Twelve — duodenarius — which  is  the  whole  number,  does  not 
indicate  those  twelve  apostles  man  for  man,  for  Iscariot 
ruled  at  that  time  and  Paul  was  yet  to  become  a  part  of 
the  number. 

But  the  seat  of  Christ's  majesty  is  to  be  understood  as 
the  location  of  the  eternal  kingdom  from  which  none  can 
be  removed.  And  that  seat  of  Christ  is  his  seat  intrinsically, 
but  his  external  seat  in  which  he  reposes,  dwells  and  resides 
by  grace  is  all  the  saints,  just  as,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
seats  of  Satan  in  which  Satan  reposes,  dwells  and  resides  are 
all  the  wicked.  Hence  it  is  said:  "To  the  angel  which  is  in 
the  church  of  Pergamos  write.  One  like  unto  the  Son 
of  Man  who  hath  a  sharp  two-edged  sword  saith,  I  know 
where  thou  dwellest,  even  where  Satan's  seat  is,"  Rev.  2:12, 
13.  Here  the  Gloss  says:  "Understand,  this  means  the  places 
where  Satan  reposes."  And,  "Thou  boldest  fast  my  name 
and  didst  not  deny  my  faith  [even  in  the  days  of  Antipas 
who  was  killed]  among  you,  where  Satan  dwelleth."  But  as 
to  the  principal  proposition,  the  apostolic  see  is  the  same  as 
the  cathedra — seat — of  Moses,  of  which  the  Saviour  said: 
"The  scribes  and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  cathedra,"  Matt. 
23  :  2.  But  Moses'  cathedra  was  not  Moses  nor  an  old 
stone  or  wooden  seat  on  which  Moses  sat  as  a  presiding 
judge.  Nor  is  it  the  synagogue,  but  that  cathedra  is  the 
authority  to  teach  and  judge  the  people.  And  this  is  shown 
by  Christ's  words,  when  he  said,  "in  Moses'  cathedra." 
And  the  words  follow,  "Whatsoever  they  say,"  that  is,  teach 
by  the  authority  and  doctrine  of  Moses,  "that  do."  There- 
fore the  apostolic  see  is  the  authority  to  teach  and  judge 
according  to  Christ's  law,  which  the  apostles  taught,  and 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  199 

in  which  men,  wise  and  fearing  the  Lord,  ought  to  sit,  men 
in  whom  is  the  truth  and  who  hate  covetousness.  For  so 
Ex.  18  :  15  has  it:  "And  Moses  said  to  his  father-in-law, 
Jethro,  The  people  come  unto  me  seeking  the  sentence  of 
God,  and  when  any  act  of  false  dealing  has  occurred  they 
come  unto  me  that  I  may  judge  between  them  and  show 
them  God's  statutes  and  his  laws."  Here  is  meant  the  au- 
thority to  pronounce  judgment  and  to  teach  God's  laws. 
And  Jethro  said  to  Moses:  "Provide  out  of  all  the  people 
able  men  who  fear  God,  in  whom  is  the  truth  and  who  hate 
covetousness,  and  Moses  did  so."  At  this  place  Lyra  says: 
"Able  to  judge  by  reason  of  wisdom  and  experience.  On 
this  account  another  translation  has  'wise'  where  we  have 
*  able  men  who  fear  God '  more  than  men  '  in  whom  is  the 
truth,'  that  is,  the  truth  of  life,  of  doctrine  and  righteousness, 
and  men  'who  hate  covetousness,'  because  covetous  men  are 
easily  turned  away  from  righteousness  by  gifts."  So  much 
Lyra. 

Would  that  that  cathedra  now  had  such  men.  And  where 
are  they  to  be  found?  Certainly  in  the  Roman  curia,  where 
they  preside  over  the  cathedra  of  St.  Peter,  that  is,  sit  in 
the  authority  of  the  apostles,  which  is  the  authority  to  pro- 
nounce judgment  in  spiritual  things  and  teach  the  law  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  provided  covetousness,  unrighteousness 
and  pride  are  kept  out  and  holy  living  flourishes.  The  Sa- 
viour himself  testified,  saying:  "Scribes  and  Pharisees  sit 
in  Moses'  cathedra.  Therefore  all  things  whatsoever  they 
bid  you,  these  do  and  observe,  but  do  not  ye  after  their 
works,  for  they  say  and  do  not,"  Matt.  2;^  :  2,  3.  Here  cer- 
tainly a  life  lacking  the  works  of  the  law  is  referred  to.  For 
"  they  bind  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne  and  lay 
them  on  men's  shoulders."  Certainly  unreasonable  doctrine 
and  unrighteousness  are  here  referred  to.  "But  they  them- 
selves will  not  move  them  with  their  finger."  Certainly 
an  easy-going  life !     "  All  their  works  they  do  to  be  seen 


200  THE  CHURCH 

of  men" — certainly  vainglory!  "For  they  make  broad  their 
phylacteries"  in  bulls  distributed  throughout  the  whole  world, 
as  if  they  were  pre-eminent  in  keeping  God's  law.  Here 
is  hypocrisy.  They  enlarge  the  fringes  with  which  they 
cover  their  asses.  ^  They  love  the  chief  places  at  feasts,  seek- 
ing pleasure  and  honor  of  men,  and  "the  chief  cathedras 
— seats — in  the  synagogues,"  that  is,  accumulations  of  church 
livings,  for  this  one  wants  to  be  a  cardinal,  this  one  a  patri- 
arch, this  one  an  archbishop.  "And  they  love  salutations 
in  the  market-places,"  with  genuflexions — that  is,  in  public — 
"and  to  be  called  of  men,  Rabbin"  [Matt.  23  :  4  sqq.],  that  is, 
our  Master,  and  to  rule  the  whole  church  of  Christ. 

Therefore,  they  also  call  the  Roman  curia  the  mistress 
and  teacher  of  churches.  And  granting  the  possibility  of  this, 
these  persons  are  seats  not  of  Christ  but  of  Satan,  sitting 
in  view  of  their  own  life  in  the  cathedra  of  pestilence.  And 
of  this  the  Psalmist,  speaking  of  Christ,  said:  "Blessed  is 
the  man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly, 
nor  standeth  in  the  way  of  sinners,  nor  sitteth  in  the  cathe- 
dra of  pestilence,"  Psalm  1:1.  Here  Augustine  says  [Com. 
on  Psalms,  Nic.  Fathers,  8:1]:  "This  is  to  be  understood  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord-man,  who  does  not  sit  in 
the  cathedra  of  pestilence.  He  did  not  desire  an  earthly 
kingdom  with  its  pride,  which  is  rightly  understood  to  be  the 
cathedra*  of  pestilence,  because  there  is  hardly  a  single  one 
who  is  wanting  in  the  love  of  dominion  and  does  not  hanker 
after  glory.  The  pestilence  is  a  disease  widely  pervasive 
and  involving  all  or  nearly  all  people.  More  amply,  how- 
ever, the  cathedra  stands  for  pernicious  doctrine  whose  words 
work  as  doth  a  cancer."  Thus  much  Augustine,  who  calls 
the  cathedra  of  pestilence  the  lust  of  dominion  and  perni- 
cious doctrine,  a  cathedra  in  which  the  elders  of  the  church 
sit,  wishing  to  exercise  secular  dominion  and  teaching  men 
to  keep  their  doctrines  more  carefully  than  the  command- 
ments of  God. 

'  Quibus  operiunt  mulas. 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  201 

In  the  cathedra,  however,  that  is,  in  the  authority  and 
in  the  teaching  of  the  law,  he  verily  sits  who  teaches  the 
law  and  keeps  the  commandments  of  the  law.  Hence  Au- 
gustine says  on  Psalm  1:3:  '"And  his  delight  is  in  the  law 
of  the  Lord.'  It  is  one  thing  to  be  in  the  law  and  another 
to  be  under  the  law;  he  who  is  in  the  law  acts  and  does 
according  to  the  law;  he  who  is  under  the  law  is  acted  upon 
according  to  the  law."  See  how  clear  the  exposition  of  this 
holy  man  is.  Whoso,  therefore,  "does  and  teaches,  he  shall 
be  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  says  the  Saviour,  Matt. 
5  :  19.  Truly,  therefore,  he  sits  in  the  cathedra  of  Moses 
or  Peter  who  lives  well  and  teaches  well  in  the  authority 
of  Scripture,  who  adds  nothing  extraneous  to  the  law,  nor 
seeks  gain  or  profit  from  the  cathedra. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  sits  ill  in  the  cathedra  who  either 
teaches  ill  or  lives  ill,  or  who  teaches  good  things  and  lives 
ill,  or  who  neither  teaches  good  things  nor  lives  well.  And 
such,  alas,  are  many  who  seek  the  things  that  are  their  own 
and  not  the  things  of  Jesus  Christ.  Of  these  our  Saviour 
said:  "The  scribes  and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  cathedra,  for 
they  say  and  do  not."  And  a  Httle  later  he  says:  "Woe 
unto  you  scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  shut  up  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  against  men,  for  ye  enter  not  in  yourselves,  neither 
suffer  ye  them  that  are  entering  in  to  enter,"  Matt.  23  :  13. 

And  see  the  other  part.  "Ye  have  made  void  the  com- 
mandment of  God  because  of  your  tradition.  Ye  hypocrites, 
well  did  Isaiah  prophesy  of  you,  saying,  This  people  hon- 
oreth  me  with  their  lips,  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me.  But 
in  vain  do  they  worship  me,  teaching  the  doctrines  and  com- 
mandments of  men,"  Matt.  15  :  6.  They,  therefore,  sit  ill 
in  the  cathedra  of  Moses  and  Peter,  or  of  Christ,  who  teach 
good  things  and  do  them  not.  Worse  are  those  who  neither 
teach  nor  do.  Worst  are  those  who  prevent  the  teaching  of 
good  things.  And  still  worst  of  all  are  they  who  live  ill, 
forbid  the  teaching  of  good  things  and  teach  their  own  things. 


202  THE  CHURCH 

All  such  are  thieves  and  robbers,  as  said  the  Shepherd  truly, 
"As  many  as  came  before  me  are  thieves  and  robbers,"  for 
all  such,  the  aforesaid,  came  to  the  sheepfold  apart  from 
Christ,  ascended  to  the  cathedra  by  some  other  way,  sought 
the  things  that  are  their  own  and  so  they  are  to  be  called 
hirelings,  not  shepherds.  Therefore,  the  Saviour,  showing 
who  is  an  hireling  and  not  a  shepherd,  said:  "An  hireling, 
and  he  who  is  not  the  shepherd  and  whose  own  the  sheep 
are  not,  beholdeth  the  wolf  coming,  and  leaveth  the  sheep, 
and  fleeth  away,  and  the  wolf  snatcheth  and  scattereth  the 
sheep,"  John  lo  :  12.  Here  Augustine,  Homilies  on  John 
[Nic.  Fathers,  7  :  257-259],  says:  "An  hireling  here  does  not 
bear  a  good  character,  yet  he  is  useful  in  some  respects,  and 
he  is  not  called  an  hireling,  unless  he  receives  the  reward 
from  the  one  guiding  him.  Who  is,  therefore,  that  hireling 
who  is  at  once  both  guilty  and  necessary?  Here,  brethren, 
let  the  Lord  himself  give  us  light  that  we  may  understand 
who  is  the  hirehng  and  that  we  be  not  ourselves  hirelings. 
What  is,  therefore,  an  hireling?  There  are  in  the  church 
certain  officials  of  whom  Paul  says  that  they  seek  their  own 
and  not  the  things  of  Jesus  Christ.  What  is  it,  then,  to 
seek  one's  own?  They  who  seek  their  own  are  those  that 
do  not  love  Christ  freely,  do  not  seek  God  for  God's  sake, 
who  pursue  after  temporal  goods,  coveting  lucre  and  hanker- 
ing after  honors  from  men.  When  these  things  are  loved  by 
a  superior,  and  when  he  serves  God  for  the  sake  of  these 
things,  whoever  he  may  be,  he  is  an  hireling;  let  him  not 
count  himself  among  the  children.  For  of  such  the  Lord 
says:  'Verily  I  say  unto  you,  they  have  received  their  re- 
ward.'" Thus  far  Augustine.  But  because  men  of  this  kind 
sit  in  the  cathedra,  Augustine,  after  interposing  some  things, 
says  at  the  same  place:  "But  take  note  how  the  hirelings 
are  necessary.  Many,  forsooth,  in  the  church  who  pursue 
after  worldly  comforts  nevertheless  preach  Christ  and  through 
them  Christ's  voice  is  heard,  and  the  sheep  follow  not  the 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  203 

hirelings  but  the  voice  of  the  Shepherd  at  the  call  of  the  hire- 
ling. Listen  to  the  hirelings  as  they  are  set  forth  by  the 
Lord  himself.  'Scribes/  he  said,  'and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses' 
seat.  Whatsoever  they  bid  you,  those  things  do,  but  what- 
soever they  do,  do  not  ye.'  What  else  did  he  say  except 
hear  the  voice  of  the  shepherd  when  the  hireling  calls  ?  For, 
sitting  in  Moses'  seat,  they  teach  God's  law;  therefore  God 
teaches  through  them.  But,  if  they  seek  to  teach  their  own 
things,  hear  them  not,  do  them  not,  for  certainly  such  people 
seek  their  own  things  and  not  the  things  of  Jesus  Christ. 
No  hireling,  however,  has  dared  to  say  to  the  people  of  God: 
'  I  seek  thy  things  and  not  the  things  of  Jesus  Christ.' "  Thus 
much  Augustine.  At  the  close  of  this  homily  he  uses  these 
words:  "See,  how  the  hireling  is  said  to  flee  when  he  seeth 
the  wolf.  Why?  Because  he  careth  not  for  the  sheep. 
Why  does  he  not  care  for  the  sheep?  Because  he  is  an  hire- 
ling. What  is  an  hireling?  He  is  one  that  seeketh  temporal 
gain,  but  will  not  dwell  in  the  house  forever."  Thus  much 
Augustine,  who  shows  that  there  are  now  hirelings  in  the 
church  and  they  sit  in  the  cathedras,  that  is,  in  the  authority 
of  teaching  God's  law. 

And  again  Augustine,  on  the  words,  "  Simon  Peter  drew 
in  the  net  full  of  great  fishes,"  John  21  :  11  [Nic.  Fathers, 
7  :  443],  says,  "He  is  least  who  breaks  in  deeds  what  he 
teaches  in  words";  and  further  on:  "Finally,  to  show  that 
those  least  ones  are  reprobates,  who  teach  in  words,  speak- 
ing good  things,  which  they  break  by  living  ill,  and  that 
they  will  not  be  as  the  least  in  the  life  eternal  and  will  not 
even  be  there,  after  Christ  had  said,  'he  shall  be  called  least 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,'  Christ  added:  'for  I  say  unto  you 
except  your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  not  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.'  These  certainly  are  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  who 
sit  in  Moses'  seat,  and  of  these  Christ  said :  '  Whatsoever  they 
bid  you,  do,  but  whatsoever  they  do,  do  not  ye,  for  they 


204  THE  CHURCH 

say  and  do  not,  they  teach  in  words  and  break  in  their  lives.'  " 
Similarly,  it  is  said.  Psalm  119  :  2:  "Blessed  are  they  that  keep 
his  testimonies,  that  seek  him  with  a  whole  heart." 

From  what  has  just  been  said  it  is  clear  that  the  cath- 
edra of  Moses  or  the  apostolic  seat  is  the  authority  to  teach 
God's  law,  that  is,  the  family  of  holy  popes  or  of  bishops 
succeeding  the  apostles,  which  family,  as  it  chiefly  thinks  of 
God's  honor,  so  it  chiefly  takes  care  for  it  and  most  prof- 
itably looks  out  for  the  holy  church  and  most  helpfully  for 
both  superior  and  subject — not  by  preferring  the  unworthy, 
not  in  putting  aside  the  more  fit,  not  in  confirming  without 
examination  an  ecclesiastical  ofiice  to  any  one  for  gain  or  blood 
relationship  or  private  personal  tie. 

And,  further,  it  is  clear,  as  concerning  the  apostolic  com- 
mands, as  said  the  lord  of  Lincoln^  in  the  following  reply  to 
the  letters  of  the  Roman  pontiff  about  preferring  a  certain 
relative  to  a  stall  in  Lincoln  church:  "The  apostolic  com- 
mands I  fully  obey  with  filial  affection,  devotedly  and  rev- 
erently. Indeed,  I  oppose  and  resist  those  who  oppose 
themselves  to  the  apostolic  commands,  myself  zealous  for 
the  paternal  honor.  To  do  both  I  consider  myself  held  by 
reason  of  my  sonship  and  out  of  regard  to  the  divine  com- 

'  Robert  Grosseteste,  the  famous  bishop  of  Lincoln,  1235-1253,  was  one  of 
the  chief  English  ecclesiastics  of  the  Middle  Ages.  He  was  a  scholar  and  pa- 
tron of  learning  as  well  as  a  vigorous  and  independent  episcopal  administrator. 
The  letters,  quoted  here  and  further  on,  are  found  in  Luard's  ed.,  Rolls  Series, 
1864,  pp.  435,  437.  Grosseteste  made  bold  protest  against  Innocent  IV's 
appointment  of  his  nephew,  Fred,  of  Lavagna  to  a  stall  at  Lincoln.  It  was 
one  of  the  boldest  protests  made  against  the  custom  of  appointing  Italians  to 
rich  English  livings.  Matthew  Paris  referred  to  the  papal  exactions  upon 
England  as  "bloodsucking  extortion."  Shakespeare  expressed  a  wide-spread 
feeling.  King  John,  3:1: 

"That  no  Italian  priest 
Shall  tithe  or  toil  in  our  dominions." 

Although  Grosseteste  on  more  than  one  occasion  resisted  the  pope,  he  did 
not  at  one  time  deny  the  pope's  right  to  "dispose  freely  of  all  ecclesiastical 
benefices,"  as  he  wrote,  1238  to  the  papal  legate  Otho,  Luard's  ed.,  p.  145. 
But  in  the  letter  from  which  Huss  quotes,  he  said:  " I  disobey,  I  resist,  I  rebel." 
Huss  knew  of  Grosseteste  through  Wyclif's  quotations,  but,  as  is  also  probable, 
at  first  hand,  as  Grosseteste's  MSS.  are  in  the  Prague  library. 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  205 

mandment.  Indeed,  apostolic  commands  are  not  and  can- 
not be  other  than  apostolic  teachings  and  teachings  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  the  teacher  of  the  apostles."  Thus 
far  he  of  Lincoln.  Therefore,  Christ's  faithful  disciple  ought 
to  consider  how  a  command  emanates  from  the  pope,  whether 
it  is  the  express  command  of  any  apostle  or  of  Christ's  law 
or  whether  it  has  its  foundation  in  Christ's  law,  and  this 
being  known  to  be  the  case,  he  ought  to  obey  a  command 
of  this  kind  reverently  and  humbly.  But,  if  he  truly  knows 
that  a  pope's  command  is  at  variance  with  Christ's  com- 
mand or  counsel  or  tends  to  any  hurt  of  the  church,  then  he 
ought  boldly  to  resist  it  lest  he  become  a  partaker  in  crime 
by  consent. 

For  this  reason,  trusting  in  the  Lord  and  in  Christ  Jesus, 
who  mightily  and  wisely  protects  the  professors  of  his  truth 
and  rewards  them  with  the  prize  of  never-ending  glory,  I 
withstood  the  bull  of  Alexander  V,  which  Lord  Zbynek,  arch- 
bishop of  Prague,  secured,  1409,  and  in  which  he  commands 
that  there  should  be  no  more  preaching  or  sermons  to  the 
people  by  any  priest  whatsoever — even  though  he  might  be 
fortified  with  an  apostoUc  instrument  taking  precedence  of 
such  a  mandate  or  by  any  other  written  instrument ' — except 
in  cathedrals,  parochial  or  cloistral  churches  or  in  their  cem- 
eteries. This  mandate,  being  contrary  to  the  words  and 
deeds  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  is  not  apostolic,  for  Christ 
preached  to  the  people  on  the  sea,  in  the  desert,  in  the  fields 
and  houses,  in  synagogues,  in  villages  and  on  the  streets,  and 
taught    his   disciples,   saying:    "Go   ye   into  all  the   world 

'  Alexander  V's  bull,  dated  Dec.  20,  1409,  was  in  answer  to  protests  sent 
by  the  part  of  the  Prague  clergy  hostile  to  Huss  against  the  spread  of  Wyclif's 
views  in  Bohemia.  Alexander  called  upon  Zbynek  to  be  solicitous  to  clear  his 
diocese  of  errors  and  bade  him  appoint  a  commission  to  detect  and  summon 
heretics.  Huss's  text  in  regard  to  the  prohibition  of  preaching  in  chapels  is 
taken  word  for  word  from  Alexander's  bull.  Palacky,  Doc,  347  sqq.  Bethle- 
hem chapel  was  one  of  the  privileged  chapels  which  had  papal  sanction  for 
popular  preaching  in  the  Bohemian  tongue.  Zbynek,  at  first  favorable  to  Huss, 
was  archbishop  of  Prague,  1403-1411.     See  Schaff,  Lije  of  John  Huss. 


2o6  THE  CHURCH 

and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  Mark  i6  :  15.  And 
these,  going  forth,  preached  everywhere,  that  is,  in  every 
place  where  the  people  were  willing  to  listen,  God  working 
with  them.  Therefore,  this  command  is  to  the  hurt  of  the 
church,  and  binds  the  Word  of  God,  that  it  should  not  run 
freely.  And,  in  the  third  place,  it  is  prejudicial  to  the  chapels 
which  are  erected  and  have  with  reason  been  confirmed  by 
diocesans,  and  have  been  furnished  with  privileges  by  the 
apostolic  see  for  the  preaching  of  God's  Word  in  them.  For 
no  advantage  whatever  can  be  seen  to  accrue  from  that 
command,  but  it  is  a  fallacious  and  faithless  irony,  be- 
cause the  places  set  apart  for  divine  worship  and  furnished 
with  privileges  for  the  preaching  of  the  divine  Word  are  de- 
prived of  their  lawful  liberties  on  account  of  some  personal 
feeling  or  of  some  injurious  appeal  or  some  importunity,  or 
on  account  of  some  temporal  good.  Hence,  I  appealed  from 
that  command  of  Alexander  to  Alexander  himself,  better  in- 
formed.^ And  while  I  was  prosecuting  the  appeal,  that  lord 
pope  suddenly  died.  And,  no  audience  being  allowed  me  in 
the  Roman  curia,  the  Lord  Zbynek,  archbishop  of  Prague 
secured  papers  aggravating  the  censure  against  me,  from 
which,  A.  D.  14 10,  I  appealed  to  Pope  John  XXIII,  and  he 
during  two  years  did  not  grant  audience  to  my  legal  advo- 
cates and  solicitors.^  In  the  meantime  I  was  weighed  down 
still  more  by  ecclesiastical  proceedings.'/ When,  therefore, 
my  appeal  from  one  pope  to  his  successor  did  not  profit  me 
and  to  appeal  from  the  pope  to  a  council  involves  long  wait- 
ing and  because  it  is  of  uncertain  advantage  to  beg  for  grace 
in  the  matter  of  a  grievance  and  censure,  therefore  I  appealed 

*  Huss  claimed  that  Alexander  had  been  misinformed  by  Zbynek  and  the 
Prague  clergy  in  regard  to  the  conditions  in  Prague. 

*  John  of  Jesenicz,  Huss's  chief  legal  advocate,  remained  faithful  till  Huss's 
death,  and  after  it.  He  presented  Huss's  case  at  Rome  and  Bologna,  was  cast 
into  prison  and  afterwards  escaped  and  returned  to  Prague.  See  SchafE,  Life 
of  John  Huss,  i/^o  sq. 

*  The  reference  is  to  the  aggravated  excommunication  issued  by  the  curia 
against  Huss,  141 2,  in  view  of  his  contumacy. 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  207 

finally  to  the  head  of  the  church,  Jesus  Christ.^  For  he  is 
superior  to  any  pope  whatever  in  deciding  a  case:  he  cannot 
err,  nor  to  a  suppliant,  rightfully  begging,  can  he  deny  justice, 
nor  is  he  able  in  view  of  his  law  to  condemn  a  man  who  in 
the  sight  of  his  law  is  without  demerit. 

Besides,  I  withstood  in  the  matter  of  the  indulgences  is- 
sued or  announced  A.  D.  141 2  through  the  bulls  of  Pope 
John  XXIII,  about  which  I  have  said  enough  in  another 
place.2  For  the  pope  cannot  command  anything  lawfully 
except  what  makes  for  the  destruction  of  evil  and  for  the 
edification  of  the  church — a  thing  which  ought  to  be  univer- 
sally held.  To  this  the  apostle  bore  witness  when  he  said: 
"The  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not  of  the  flesh,  but  mighty 
before  God  to  the  destruction  of  strongholds,  by  which  we 
cast  down  counsels,^  casting  down  every  high  thing  which 
exalted  itself  against  the  knowledge  of  God,"  II  Cor.  10  :  4,  5. 
And  again  he  says:  "That  I  may  not  deal  sharply  accord- 
ing to  the  authority  which  the  Lord  gave  me  for  building  up 
and  not  for  destruction,"  II  Cor.  13  :  10.  Hence,  he  of  Lin- 
coln in  his  letters  to  the  pope  thus  writes:  "The  apostolic 
see  to  which  is  given  authority  by  the  holiest  of  the  holies, 
Jesus  Christ,  the  apostle  bearing  witness,  for  building  up  and 
not  for  casting  down,  cannot  commit  schism."  And  further 
on  he  says:  ''For  this  reason  your  Discretion  cannot  ordain 
anything  hard  against  me,  because  all  my  words  and  all  my 
actions  are  not  a  gainsaying  or  a  rebellion,  but  a  filial  hon- 
oring due  to  the  father  and  mother,  that  is,  Christ  and  the 
church,  because  it  is  the  keeping  of  a  divine  command.  But, 
recalling  in  brief,  I  say  that  the  sanctity  of  the  apostolic  see 


1  Huss  repeatedly  refers  to  the  appeal  he  made  to  Christ,  now  putting  it  on 
the  simple  ground  of  the  right  of  a  Christian  to  do  so  and  now  citing  the  case 
of  Paul  who  appealed  to  the  higher  power,  Caesar.  See  Letter,  Doc,  73;  Mon., 
I  :  325-392,  etc.,  as  well  as  later  in  this  treatise. 

^  Huss's  treatises  against  Papal  Indulgences  for  the  crusade  against  Ladis- 
laus,  king  of  Naples,  ilfo«.,  i  :  215-237. 

^  Huss  has  qtiibus  consUia  demoUmur,  the  Vulgate  simply  consilia  destruentes. 


2o8  THE  CHURCH 

can  do  nothing  except  for  the  building  up  and  not  for  de- 
stroying, for  this  is  the  plenitude  of  power  to  be  able  to  do 
all  things  to  build  up.  These  things,  however,  which  they 
call  provisions,  are  not  adapted  to  build  up,  but  clearly  to 
destroy.  Therefore,  the  most  blessed  apostohc  see  is  not 
able  to  make  these  provisions."  ^  These  things  by  him  of 
Lincoln,  who  appealed  from  Pope  Innocent  to  the  tribunal 
of  Christ. 

For  this  reason  Castrensis,  VII,  tells  how  when  Robert  of 
Lincoln  was  dead,  a  voice  was  heard  in  the  papal  curia.  Come, 
wretch,  to  thy  judgment.  And  the  pope  was  found  the  next 
morning  dead  as  if  pierced  in  the  side  by  the  point  of  a  staff. 
And  he  of  Lincoln,  although  noted  for  striking  miracles,  is 
nevertheless  not  admitted  to  a  place  in  the  hst  of  the  saints.^ 

And  it  is  clear  that  the  pope  may  err,  and  the  more  griev- 
ously because,  in  a  given  case,  he  may  sin  more  abundantly, 
intensely  and  irresistibly  [than  others],  as  said  Bernard  in 
his  book  addressed  to  Pope  Eugenius:^  "More  abundantly  if 
the  sin  extends  to  all  Christendom,  more  intensely  if  his  act 
concerns  the  cure  of  souls  and  involves  the  withdrawal  of 
spiritual  benefits,  and  more  irresistibly  if  no  one  dares  to 
gainsay  him,  now  in  view  of  his  alliance  with  the  secular 
arms,  now  in  view  of  the  cloaked  censures  which  he  fulmi- 

'  A  provision  is  the  gift  of  a  spiritual  office  or  living  by  pope  or  bishop.  The 
theory  was  that  all  the  livings  in  Christendom  were  in  the  pope's  hands  for 
bestowment,  a  theory  receiving  its  full  statement  from  Clement  IV,  1265.  See 
SchafE,  Ch.  Hist.,  V,  part  2,  83  sqq.  The  Avignon  popes,  1305-1377,  appointed 
two  and  sometimes  three  successors  with  right  to  succeed  living  incumbents 
of  ecclesiastical  positions.     A  collation  is  equivalent  to  a  provision. 

2  The  full  quotation  runs,  Rolls  Series,  8  :  242:  "Robert  was  summoned 
to  the  curia  and  excommunicated,  but  he  appealed  from  Innocent's  tribunal 
to  the  bar  of  Christ.  Hence  it  happened  after  his  death,  Robert  appeared  to 
that  pope  in  the  night  while  he  was  lying  in  bed,  himself  clad  as  a  bishop  and 
said.  Arise,  wretch,  and  come  to  thy  judgment.  And  straightway  he  pierced 
him  with  his  pastoral  staff  in  the  left  side  unto  the  heart,  and  so  the  pope's 
bed  was  found  in  the  morning  full  of  blood  and  the  pope  was  dead."  Varia- 
tions were  given  of  this  popular  story.  Matthew  Paris,  who  has  unbounded 
admiration  for  Grosseteste,  reports  that  on  the  night  of  his  death  strange  bells 
were  heard. 

'  Quoted  in  chapter  IX  by  its  title,  de  Consideratione. 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  209 

nates  against  the  children  of  obedience,  now  in  view  of  pro- 
motions and  ecclesiastical  dignities  which  he  provides  for  his 
accompHces.  Hence,  as  the  papal  office,  when  it  profits  the 
church,  is  the  most  deserving,  so,  when  the  papal  office  is 
perverted  in  that  man  who  abuses  his  office,  if  it  do  injury 
to  the  church,  is  most  undeserving.  The  evidence  of  a  pope's 
defect  is  if  he  put  aside  the  law  and  a  devout  profession  of 
the  Gospel  and  give  heed  to  human  tradition."  It  was  on 
this  subject  that  Bernard  was  reasoning  with  Eugenius. 

This  is  the  first  mark.  The  second  is  when  the  pope  and 
ecclesiastical  superiors  abandon  the  manner  of  life  Christ  fol- 
lowed and  are  involved  in  a  secular  way  in  things  of  the 
world.  The  third  mark  is  when  the  pope  advances  the  traf- 
fickers of  this  world  in  the  ministry  of  Christ  and  gives  him- 
self up  chiefly  to  the  continued  pursuit  of  the  secular  life  so 
that  the  poor  churches  are  oppressed.  The  fourth  mark  is 
when,  by  his  own  command  or  through  the  appointment  of 
incapable  persons  in  the  pastoral  cure,  he  deprives  souls 
that  are  to  be  saved  of  the  Word  of  God.  Hence  he  of  Lin- 
coln, thinking  over  this,  would  not  admit  one  of  the  pope's 
relatives  to  a  stall  in  Lincoln,  giving  in  this  matter,  among 
other  things,  a  probable  reason  [for  his  conduct].  "After  the 
sin  of  Lucifer,"  he  said," — and  the  case  will  be  the  same  in 
the  end  of  time  with  the  son  of  perdition,  antichrist,  whom 
the  Lord  Jesus  will  destroy  with  the  breath  of  his  mouth — 
there  is  not,  neither  can  there  be,  another  class  so  adverse  to 
or  at  variance  with  the  apostolic  and  evangelical  doctrine, 
so  hateful  and  detestable  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself, 
and  so  abominated  by  him  and  so  pernicious  to  the  human 
family  as  the  class  which  kills  and  destroys  by  depriving  and 
defrauding  of  pastoral  ministries  souls  which  are  to  be  made 
alive  and  saved  by  the  office  and  ministry  of  the  pastoral  cure. 
And  this  sin  they  are  known  from  the  very  clearest  testimonies 
of  holy  Scripture  to  commit  who,  entrusted  with  the  power  of 
the  pastoral  cure,  satisfy  their  own  fleshly  pleasuring  with  the 


2IO  THE  CHURCH 

milk  and  wool  of  Christ's  sheep,  and  do  not  minister  the  things 
due  from  the  pastoral  office  for  the  working  out  of  the  eternal 
salvation  of  Christ's  sheep.  For  the  non-performance  of  pas- 
toral ministries  is,  by  Scripture  testimony,  the  killing  and  per- 
dition of  Christ's  sheep.  And  that  these  two  classes  of  sins, 
although  they  are  distinguished,  are  the  very  worst,  and 
every  other  class  of  sin  inestimably  excels  them,  is  clear 
from  this  that,  although  distinct  and  dissimilar,  they  are  di- 
rectly contrary  to  the  very  best  things.  For  that  is  the  worst 
which  is  contrary  to  what  is  best,  etc.  And  because,  in  good 
things,  the  cause  of  the  good  is  better  than  the  thing  caused; 
and,  in  evil  things,  the  cause  of  the  evil  is  worse  than  the  thing 
caused — it  is  clear  how  those  who  introduce  into  the  church 
of  Christ  those  worst  murderers  of  godlikeness  and  divinity 
among  Christ's  sheep  are  still  worse  than  those  worst  mur- 
derers themselves,  and  more  like  Lucifer  and  antichrist 
than  they.  And  in  this  gradation  of  badness  those  do  more 
abundantly  excel  who,  in  view  of  the  greater  and  the  di- 
viner power  given  them  for  edification  and  not  for  scatter- 
ing the  sheep,  are  the  more  held  by  the  church  of  God  in 
duty  bound  to  exclude  and  exterminate  those  worst  mur- 
derers."    Thus  much  he  of  Lincoln. 

He  wished  briefly  to  estabUsh  that  the  killing  and  driv- 
ing to  perdition  of  Christ's  sheep  are  the  two  worst  sins, 
although  they  may  be  distinguished,  even  as  the  making  alive 
of  the  sheep  by  grace  and  their  glorification  are  the  two  best 
things  for  the  sheep,  although  different,  and  to  them  the  killing 
and  the  destroying  are  opposites.  And  as  killing  is  the  oppo- 
site of  making  alive  and  murder  of  glorification,  it  follows  that 
by  as  much  as  these  two  sins  are  more  serious  by  so  much  are 
they  opposed  to  the  good  things  which  are  more  excellent. 
And,  as  God  of  himself  is  the  cause  of  these  good  things,  it 
follows  that  by  as  much  as  the  killers  and  murderers  of  the 
sheep  are  worse  than  others,  by  so  much  are  the  killing  and 
murdering  of  the  sheep  the  worse  sins.    And  it  is  clear  that 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  211 

those  who  kill  souls  are  the  worst  servants  of  antichrist  and 
Satan. 

In  view  of  these  things  it  is  to  be  held  that  to  rebel  against 
an  erring  pope  is  to  obey  Christ  the  Lord,  because  in  mak- 
ing his  provisions  he  chiefly  makes  those  which  savor  of 
personal  affection.  Therefore,  I  call  the  world  to  witness  that 
the  papal  distribution  of  benefices  sows  in  the  church  hire- 
lings all  too  widely.  On  the  part  of  the  popes,  it  gives  them 
occasion  to  exalt  their  vicarial  power,  to  put  an  excessive 
value  on  the  world's  dignity  and  to  make  an  extravagant 
show  of  a  fantastic  sanctity.  But  these  doctors,  who  are 
looking  for  temporal  remuneration  from  the  pope  or  servilely 
fear  his  power,^  and  also  are  saying  that  he  has  mysterious 
power  and  is  impeccable  and  inerrant  and  that  he  may  do 
lawfully  whatsoever  pleases  him — these  doctors  are  pseudo- 
prophets  and  pseudo-apostles  of  antichrist. 

From  the  things  already  said,  it  is  clear  that  the  apos- 
toHc  seat  is  the  authority  to  judge  and  teach  Christ's  law, 
or  secondly,  as  has  been  said,  it  is  the  family  of  holy  popes 
who  are  successors  to  Christ.  In  this  sense  the  apostolic 
seat  is  understood,  Dist.  22  [Friedberg,  i  :  74],  where  Pope 
Anacletus  says:  "This  apostolic  seat  has  been  established 
as  the  head  and  hinge  by  the  Lord  and  not  by  another;  and 
just  as  a  gate  is  ruled  by  the  hinge,  so  by  the  authority  of 
the  holy  apostolic  seat  all  the  other  churches  are  ruled,  sub- 
ject to  the  government  of  the  Lord."  That  pope  intended 
that  he  himself  should  be  the  head  and  hinge,  the  head 
in  presiding  and  the  hinge  in  ruling,  but  he  has  a  weak 
enough  argument  for  proving  his  purpose.  For  he  argues 
from  things  that  are  alike,  when  he  says:  "As  a  gate  is  ruled 
by  its  hinge,  so  by  the  authority  of  the  holy  apostolic  see 
all  the  churches  are  ruled."  It  would  have  been  sufl&cient 
to  argue  that  the  pope  and  cardinals  rule  themselves  well. 

^  Huss  frequently  ascribes  the  changed  attitude  of  Palecz  and  Stanislaus  to 
the  fear  of  ecclesiastical  penalties,  Doc,  53,  466,  etc. 


212  THE   CHURCH 

For  as  by  one  hinge  only  one  door  is  ruled,  so  it  would 
be  a  good  thing  if  by  their  doctrine  and  authority  they  were 
ruled  well  themselves,  so  that  afterwards  other  churches  should 
be  well  ruled.  For  in  what  manner  do  they  rule  our  church 
of  Prague  except  by  distributing  benefices  to  the  covetous  and 
collecting  monies?  But  what  has  become  of  teaching  and 
the  other  ministrations  of  power? 

Thirdly,  the  seat  is  conceived  of  as  power,  and  in  this  way 
it  is  conceived  in  Dist.  Inferior.  [21  '.4,  Friedberg,  i  :  70], 
where  Pope  Nicolas  says,  "an  inferior  seat  is  not  com- 
petent to  absolve  a  superior,"  and  he  draws  the  conclusion 
but  unfittingly  enough  from  Isaiah  10  :  15,  "Shall  the  axe 
boast  itself  against  him  that  heweth?  Shall  the  saw  mag- 
nify itself  against  him  that  wieldeth  it?"  when  he  says: 
"Seeing  these  things  are  set  forth  in  divine  Scripture,  we 
have  shown  more  clearly  than  the  sun  that  no  one  who  is 
of  lesser  authority  is  competent  to  condemn  by  his  judg- 
ments one  who  is  of  greater  power,  or  subject  him  by  defini- 
tions of  his  own."  See  how  he  here  calls  the  inferior  seat 
the  man  of  lesser  authority  and  the  superior  seat  the  man 
of  greater  authority.  But  how  is  the  seat  to  be  understood? 
This  Pelagius  [a  mistake  for  Gelasius]  answers,  when  he  says: 
Dist.  21  [Friedberg,  i  :  70]:  "The  first  seat  of  the  apostle 
Peter  is  the  Roman  church,  which  has  neither  spot  nor 
wrinkle  nor  any  such  thing."  See  how  the  seat  of  Peter 
is  here  called  the  Roman  church.  But  by  this  is  it  verified, 
that  it  is  "without  spot  and  wrinkle"?  Since  neither  is  the 
pope  that  seat  nor  that  church,  nor  is  the  pope  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  cardinals,  for  they  are  not  "without  spot." 
Nor  is  that  seat  the  stone  church.  Of  a  truth,  I  am  not  able 
otherwise  to  think  of  that  seat  except  as  it  is  all  those  who 
imitate  the  life  of  Peter,  measured  finally  by  the  law  of 
Christ.  For  these  will  be  "without  spot  and  wrinkle"  in 
the  heavenly  country.  But  whether  this  is  the  meaning  of 
that  pope  or  not,  I  do  not  know. 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  213 

Hence  Augustine,  Com.  on  Psalm  122  :  5  [Nic.  Fathers, 
7  :  594],  "The  seats  sat  in  judgment,"  speaks  thus  of  the 
thing  in  question:  *'How  did  those  seats  sit  in  judgment? 
Wonderful  enigma,  wonderful  question,  if  seat  does  not  mean 
what  the  Greeks  call  throne  !  The  Greeks  call  chairs  thrones, 
as  something  honorable.  Therefore,  my  brethren,  it  is  not 
wonderful  if  men  sit  on  seats,  on  chairs,  but  that  the  seats 
themselves  sit,  how  are  we  to  understand  this?  As  if  some 
one  were  to  say,  let  the  cathedras  sit  here,  or  the  chairs 
sit  here;  to  sit  in  a  chair,  to  sit  in  seats,  they  sat  in  cath- 
edras. The  seats  themselves  do  not  sit.  What,  therefore, 
is  the  meaning  of  this,  that  the  seats  sat  for  judgment  ?  Surely 
ye  are  accustomed  to  hear  what  the  Lord  said:  'Heaven  is 
my  throne  and  the  earth  is  the  footstool  of  my  feet.'  But 
in  Latin  the  whole  is  said  to  be:  'Heaven  is  my  seat  [or 
seats].'  Who  are  these  but  the  righteous?  Who  are  the 
heavens  but  the  righteous?  What  church?  The  churches 
are  many  and  yet  they  are  one.  So,  therefore,  it  is  also  with 
the  righteous.  The  righteous  are  heaven  that  they  may  be 
the  heavens.  On  these  God  sits,  and  the  things  pertaining 
to  them  God  judges.  And  not  without  reason  was  it  said 
that  'the  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God.' 

''The  apostles,  however,  are  made  heaven.  Whence  are 
they  made  heaven  ?  Because  they  are  made  righteous.  How 
is  the  sinner  made  earth,  to  whom  it  is  said,  '  Thou  art  earth 
and  unto  earth  thou  shalt  go'?  Even  so  those  who  have 
been  made  righteous  are  made  heaven.  They  have  borne 
God;  for  their  sakes  God  has  made  wonderful  lights  to  shine, 
thundered  terrors,  rained  consolations.  Therefore  the  right- 
eous were  heaven  and  'declared  the  glory  of  God.'  Now 
that  ye  may  know  that  these  are  the  heavens  spoken  of,  it 
is  said  in  the  same  Psalm,  'Their  sound  is  gone  out  through 
all  the  earth,  and  their  words  unto  the  ends  of  the  world.' 
You  ask.  Whose  sound?  and  you  will  find,  the  sound  of  the 
heavens.    If,  therefore,  heaven  is  God's  seat  and  the  apos- 


214  THE   CHURCH 

ties  are  heaven,  then  they  are  themselves  made  God's  seat; 
they  are  God's  throne.  In  another  place  it  is  said:  'The 
soul  of  the  righteous  man  is  the  throne  of  wisdom.'  This 
is  a  great  thing  which  is  said,  namely,  in  the  soul  of  the 
righteous  man  wisdom  sits  as  on  its  throne  and  from  there 
it  judges  whatever  it  judges.  Therefore,  there  will  be 
thrones  of  wisdom,  and  so  the  Lord  said  to  them:  'Ye  shall 
sit  on  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.' 
So  also  they  will  sit  on  twelve  seats ;  and  they  are  themselves 
the  seats  of  God.  Of  them,  indeed,  it  was  said:  'For  there  the 
seats  sat.'  How  will  the  seats  sit  there?  And  who  are  the 
seats  of  whom  it  is  said,  'The  soul  of  the  righteous  man  is 
the  seat  of  wisdom'?  And  who  are  the  seats  of  heaven? 
The  heavens.  Who  are  the  heavens?  Heaven.  What  is 
heaven,  of  which  the  Lord  says,  'Heaven  is  my  seat'?  The 
righteous  themselves  are  the  seats,  and  have  seats;  and 
in  that  Jerusalem  the  seats  will  sit.  For  what  purpose? 
'For  judgment,  ye  shall  sit,'  he  says,  'on  twelve  seats, 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.'  Judging  whom?  Those 
who  are  below  on  the  earth.  Who  will  judge?  Those  who 
are  made  heaven."  Thus  much  Augustine,  showing  from 
Scripture  that  the  righteous  are  God's  seats  and  they  it  is 
who  will  judge. 

Fourthly,  seat  is  understood  of  the  place  in  which  any 
apostle  remains  for  a  given  period,  ruling  the  people  accord- 
ing to  Christ's  law,  and,  in  this  sense,  Jerusalem  was  not 
the  bare  city,  but  with  its  people  it  was  the  seat  of  James 
the  apostle  who,  elected  by  the  apostles,  was  there  consti- 
tuted by  the  Lord  its  first  bishop.  And  Antioch  was  the 
first  seat  of  the  apostle  Peter,  and  so  Pope  Marcellus  says, 
24  :  I  [Friedberg,  i  :  970]:  "We  beseech  you  brethren  that 
ye  teach  and  think  nothing  else  than  what  was  taught  by 
St.  Peter  the  apostle  and  the  remaining  apostles  and  Fathers." 
And  further  on:  "His  seat,  that  is,  Peter's,  was  the  primary 
one  among  you,  and  it  was  afterwards,  at  God's  bidding, 


THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  215 

transferred  to  Rome,  over  which  we,  with  divine  grace  sup- 
porting us,  preside  this  very  day.  But  if  your  Antiochian 
seat,  which  originally  was  the  first,  gave  way  to  the  Roman 
seat,  there  is  none  which  is  not  subject  to  its  bestowal — 
ditione."  See  how  very  finely  this  pope  begins  and  how 
very  confusedly  he  ends.  In  the  first  place,  he  asks  and 
begs  that  the  priests  of  Antioch  teach  nothing  else  than 
what  they  received  from  Peter  and  from  other  apostles  and 
holy  Fathers.  0  that  all  clerics  had  done  this !  Then  he 
says,  that  the  seat  of  Peter  was  the  primary  one  among 
them,  that  is,  the  first  place  of  his  residence,  in  which  as 
bishop  he  taught  Christ's  law.  And  this  is  true.  But  when 
he  says,  "Afterwards  it  was  transferred  to  Rome,"  that  is, 
Peter's  seat — I  certainly  do  not  know  what  that  seat  was 
that  was  transferred;  for  no  church,  no  locahty,  no  people 
were  transferred.  If  it  be  said,  it  was  the  authority  of  Peter 
to  teach  the  law,  then  that  authority  was  at  one  and  the 
same  time  in  Antioch  and  in  Rome.  What  then  was  trans- 
ferred unless  it  was  Peter,  when  he  came  from  Antioch  to 
Rome?  But  Pope  Marcellus  did  not  preside  over  Peter,  nor 
is  Peter  now  the  Roman  seat.  What,  therefore,  does  this 
expression  'Over  which,'  mean,  when  he  says,  "Over  which 
we  preside."  Certainly  this  pope  speaks  confusedly.  For 
after  the  dotation,  the  Roman  bishop  then  living  intended 
that  the  Roman  church  by  the  authority  of  Cassar  should 
be  called  first,  that  is,  the  more  worthy  seat  over  which  he 
himself  presides,  and  so  he  intended  that  the  priests  of  An- 
tioch should  be  subject  to  himself.  If  Peter  affected  this 
superiority  while  he  dwelt  in  Rome,  I  do  not  know.  But 
I  do  know  that  in  his  letters  he  wished  that  they  should 
follow  in  the  steps  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  I  will  pass  by  the 
way  in  which  many  popes  and  canonists  speak  obscurely 
about  the  apostolic  see.  I  will,  however,  not  say  that  the 
city  of  Rome  is  the  apostolic  seat,  so  necessary  that  with- 
out it  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  could  not  stand.    For,  if 


2i6  THE  CHURCH 

by  a  possibility  Rome,  like  Sodom,  were  destroyed,  the  Chris- 
tian church  would  be  still  standing.  And  it  is  not  true  that, 
wherever  the  pope  is,  there  is  Rome.  Howbeit,  it  is  true 
that,  wherever  the  pope  shall  be  so  long  as  he  is  here  on 
the  earth,  there  Peter's  authority  abides  with  the  pope,  so 
long  as  the  pope  does  not  depart  from  the  law  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  So  much  I  have  wanted  to  say  about  the 
apostoUc  seat  for  the  present. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

WHEN  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPERIORS  ARE  TO  BE 

OBEYED 

It  having  been  stated  what  the  apostolic  seat  is,  it  is 
now  to  be  stated  in  what  cases  obedience  is  to  be  rendered 
to  this  apostolic  seat.  And  the  aforesaid  doctors  say,  that 
"it  is  to  be  obeyed  by  inferiors  in  all  things — when  the  abso- 
lutely good  is  not  forbidden  or  the  absolutely  evil  is  not  " 
commanded  [but  the  intermediate  also]^  which  in  place,  way, 
time  or  person  may  be  either  good  or  bad. 

This  they  prove  by  four  pertinent  witnesses,  the  Saviour, 
Bernard,  Augustine  and  Jerome.  And  because  the  doctors 
took  the  distinction  from  Bernard,  Ep.  ad  Adam  monachum 
[Migne's  ed.,  182  :  95  sq.],  about  the  absolutely  good  and  the 
absolutely  evil,  so  it  is  to  be  noted  that  after  St.  Bernard 
shows  that  no  one  is  to  be  obeyed  in  that  which  is  evil  and 
concludes,  saying:  ''Therefore,  to  do  evil,  even  when  any  one 
whosoever  commands,  certainly  is  not  obedience  but  rather 
disobedience.  This  deserves  soberly  to  be  said,  that  some 
things  are  absolutely  good,  some  absolutely  evil,  and  in  these 
latter  no  man  owes  obedience,  just  as  the  former  are  not  to  be 
left  undone,  even  when  forbidden.  Nor  are  the  latter  to  be 
performed,  even  though  they  be  enjoined.  Further,  between 
these  two  are  the  things  that  are  intermediate,  which  may  be 
good  or  evil  according  to  the  place,  time,  mode  or  person  in- 
volved. And  in  these  things  the  law  of  obedience  is  fixed  as 
in  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  which  was  in  the 

*  The  printed  text  of  the  original  ed.  as  well  as  of  the  reprint  omits  the  words 
in  brackets  and  "  not "  before  commanded. 

217 


2i8  THE  CHURCH 

midst  of  Paradise.  In  these  things,  certainly,  it  is  not  right 
to  prefer  our  thoughts  to  the  sentence  of  the  teachers.  In 
these  things  neither  the  command  of  prelates  nor  their  pro- 
hibition is  to  be  in  all  cases  spurned."  And  further  on,  Ber- 
nard says:  "Faith,  hope  and  love  are  absolutely  good,  and 
other  things  of  this  kind;  and  they  may  not  be  either  for- 
bidden or  not  kept.  Absolutely  evil  are  sacrilege,  adultery, 
theft,  and  such  like,  which  certainly  may  neither  be  properly 
enjoined  nor  done,  and  they  may  not  be  improperly  not  ^ 
forbidden  and  not  done.  For  no  one's  prohibition  is  valid 
to  set  aside  precepts,  and  no  one's  commandments  are  valid 
to  prejudice  in  favor  of  things  forbidden. 

"Then  there  are  the  things  intermediate,  which  indeed  of 
themselves  are  not  known  to  be  either  good  or  evil.  They 
may,  however,  indififerently  be  either  good  or  bad;  they 
may  be  commanded  or  forbidden,  but  under  no  circum- 
stances are  they  to  be  obeyed  by  inferiors,  when  they  are 
evil.  Among  these  are,  by  way  of  example,  fasting,  vigils, 
reading  and  such  like.  But  it  should  be  known  that  cer- 
tain things  intermediate  go  beyond  the  reason  of  things 
impure  or  evil.  For  since  marriage  may  occur  or  not  occur, 
but  when  once  entered  into  it  is  not  permissible  to  undo  it, 
what,  therefore,  before  marriage  was  permitted  to  be,  as  a 
thing  indifferent,  obtains  in  those  already  married  the  force 
of  the  absolutely  good.  Likewise,  it  is  a  matter  indifferent 
for  a  secular  man  to  possess  private  property,  because  he 
has  the  option  of  not  possessing.  But  for  a  monk,  because 
he  is  not  permitted  to  have  possessions,  to  possess  goods  is 
an  absolute  evil."    Thus  much  Bernard. 

Also  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  so  far  as  the  sense  of  those 
speaking  about  human  actions  goes,  a  certain  work  is  called 
neutral  among  them  which,  in  its  primary  intent,  cannot  be 
said  to  be  a  good  of  morals  or  an  evil  of  vice,  as,  for  example, 
to  build  or  to  weave.    But  works  are  called  good  or  evil 

*Huss  has  improperly  inserted  this  "not"  which  is  not  found  in  Migne. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPERIORS  219 

by  the  standard  of  their  class — de  genere — which  words  des- 
ignate from  a  moral  standpoint  the  substance  or  nature  of  a 
good  work  or  an  evil.  Nevertheless,  they  do  not  involve  the 
circumstances  which  of  themselves  fix  the  natures  of  such 
acts  as  in  the  class  of  virtue  or  vice,  as,  for  example,  giving 
alms  or  putting  a  man  to  death.  For  both  of  these  can  be- 
come good  or  evil  according  to  the  diversity  of  their  causes 
or  the  purpose  of  the  doer.  For  to  give  alms  for  vainglory 
is  evil,  just  as  to  kill  a  man  by  the  authority  of  God,  lest 
he  infect  the  church,  is  good.^  But  of  another  kind  are  col- 
lective works,  which  from  a  moral  standpoint  are  called 
purely  good  or  bad,  such  as  committing  adultery  and  thiev- 
ing, which  are  of  vice,  and  loving  God  and  our  neighbor  heart- 
ily, which  are  virtuous.  Briefly,  as  one  act  is  purely  good, 
such  as  loving  God  with  the  heart,  so  another  act  is  purely 
evil,  as  is  hating  God. 

Likewise,  a  thing  is  good  generically  which,  as  it  were, 
disposes  a  man  to  judge  and  discover  that  it  is  good  more 
than  to  judge  that  it  is  evil,  as  fasting  and  giving  alms.  A 
thing  is  evil  generically  which,  as  it  were,  disposes  a  man  to 
judge  and  discover  what  may  be  evil  rather  than  what  may 
be  good.  Howbeit,  the  thing  may  be  well  done,  as  the  put- 
ting a  man  to  death.  But  a  neutral  work  is  such  a  work 
which  does  not  dispose  a  man  to  judge  and  discover  what  is 
good  rather  than  what  is  evil,  as  weaving,  eating,  plough- 
ing, or  running. 

Hence,  a  work  absolutely  good  holds  the  first  rank,  a 
work  generically  good  [that  is,  judged  by  its  class],  as  it  were, 
the  middle  rank,  and  a  neutral  work  the  lowest  rank.  Ex- 
amples of  these  three  are  loving  God,  fasting,  and  weaving. 
The  same  applies  to  their  opposites,  for  a  work  purely  evil, 
as  is  hating  God;  a  work  generically  evil  is  putting  a  man 
to  death.  But  the  third  or  neutral  work  is  not  counted  as 
evil,  for  if  it  were  it  would  not  be  neutral.  For  the  name 
^  The  special  authority  of  God  is  essential.     See  Introduction. 


220  THE   CHURCH 

neutral  is  used  because  it  does  not  dispose  to  virtue  more 
than  to  vice,  or  the  contrary. 

Further,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  there  is  an  immediate 
distinction  between  human  works,  because  whether  they  are 
virtuous  or  vicious  is  manifest,  for,  if  a  man  is  vicious  and 
does  something,  then  he  acts  viciously;  and  if  he  is  virtu- 
ous and  does  something,  then  he  acts  virtuously,  for  just 
as  vice,  which  is  called  crime  or  mortal  sin,  infects  the  acts 
of  the  whole  man,  so  virtue  gives  life  to  all  the  acts  of  a  vir- 
tuous man,  in  so  far  as  that,  living  in  grace,  he  is  said  to 
be  meritorious  and  pray  even  in  sleeping  or  in  doing  any- 
thing whatsoever,  as  the  holy  doctors  say,  especially  St. 
Augustine,  Gregory,  Jerome  and  others.  And  this  state- 
ment is  founded  in  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour: 
"If  thine  eye  be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light," 
that  is,  if  thy  purpose  be  good  and  in  grace  unto  the  doing 
of  good  works,  then  "thy  whole  body,"  that  is,  the  sum  of 
all  thy  works,  "will  be  full  of  light,"  because  they  are  pure 
in  the  sight  of  God.  "But  if  thine  eye  be  evil,"  that  is, 
thy  purpose  be  bad,  tainted  and  incriminate  with  vice,  "thy 
whole  body,"  that  is,  the  sum  of  thy  works,  "will  be  full 
of  darkness,"  that  is,  will  be  vicious.  Hence,  the  doctor 
of  the  Gentiles,  the  apostle  Paul,  teaches  thus:  "Do  all  to 
the  glory  of  God,"  H  Cor.  lo  :  31,  and,  "Let  all  your  things 
be  done  in  love,"  I  Cor.  16  :  14.  Therefore,  the  whole  mode 
of  living  in  love  is  virtuous,  and  the  whole  mode  of  a  man's 
living  without  love  is  vicious. 

From  this  it  is  clear  that,  as  no  one  may  be  neutral,  so 
far  as  virtue  and  vice  go,  since  it  must  needs  be  that  one  is 
in  the  grace  of  Almighty  God  or  outside  it,  so  no  conduct 
of  any  man  may  be  neutral.  In  the  case  of  virtuous  com- 
mands, therefore,  the  superior  is  to  be  obeyed,  but  of  vicious 
commands  he  is  to  be  boldly  withstood.  These  things  hav- 
ing been  stated  [Chapter  XVII,  on  Obedience],  every  one  of 
Christ's  faithful  ought  truly  to  be  on  his  guard  lest  he  be- 


ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPERIORS  221 

lieve  that  if  the  Roman  pontiff  or  a  prelate  commands  any- 
thing whatsoever,  it  is  to  be  done  as  though  it  were  a  man- 
date of  God,  and  that  the  prelate  cannot  err,  even  as  Jesus 
Christ  cannot. 

Secondly,  let  him  hold  in  regard  to  the  commands  in 
God's  law,  how  some  are  commanded  us  in  a  mixed  way 
and  others  distinctly.  In  a  mixed  way  the  commands  are 
commanded  which  we  ought  to  do  every  day  and  meritori- 
ously, after  the  manner  of  which  Augustine  says,  that  all 
truth  is  contained  in  the  Scriptures.  But  a  work  that  is 
commanded,  for  which  there  is  no  reason  or  utility  to  the 
church  of  Christ,  is  not  contained  explicitly  or  implicitly  in 
the  Scriptures.  And  if  such  be  commanded  by  pope  or 
other  prelate,  the  inferior  is  not  bound  to  perform  it,  lest, 
in  so  doing,  he  offend  against  the  liberty  of  the  Lord's  law. 
For  we  ought  to  receive  as  of  faith  that  God  commands  us 
to  do  nothing  except  what  is  meritorious  for  us  and  reason- 
able, and  consequently  profitable  to  salvation. 

The  conclusion  should  be  this:  Subjects  are  bound  to 
obey  willingly  and  cheerfully  virtuous,  yea,  and  hard  su- 
periors, when  they  command  us  to  do  the  mandates  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  conclusion  is  evident,  for  Christ 
says,  "The  scribes  and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat.  All 
things,  therefore,  whatsoever  they  bid  you,  these  do,"  Matt. 
23  :  I,  that  is,  all  my  commandments.  Here  Augustine, 
Com.  on  John,  20  [Nic.  Fathers,  7  :  443],  says:  *'In  sitting  in 
Moses'  seat,  they  teach  God's  law.  Therefore  God  teaches 
through  them.  But,  if  they  wish  to  teach  their  own  things, 
do  not  hear  them,  do  not  do  them."  And  on  this  subject 
Christ  also  said,  ''He  that  heareth  you,  heareth  me,  and  he 
that  despiseth  you,"  etc.,  Luke  10  :  16,  consequently,  also, 
God  the  Father;  because  such  persons  are  not  obeyed  as 
men,  but  as  ministers  of  God,  who  is  to  be  obeyed  above  all. 

Therefore,  no  one  should  obey  man  in  anything,  even 
the  least  thing,  that  opposes  itself  to  the  divine  commands, 


222  THE   CHURCH 

which  St.  Bernard  calls  divine  counsels.    For  Peter  says: 
"We  must  obey  God  rather  than  men,"  Acts  5  :  29.    Hence, 
as  we  are  commanded  to  obey  our  superiors  in  things  lawful 
and  honorable,  with  the  circumstances  taken  into  considera- 
tion, so  we  are  commanded  to  resist  them  to  the  face  when 
they  walk  contrary  to  the  divine  counsels  or  commandments. 
For  Paul,  teaching  that  we  should  be  his  imitators,  I  Cor. 
4  :  16,  withstood  Peter  to  the  face  for  a  hght  o£fence,  Gal. 
2  :  II.    But  much  more  are  we  bound  to  obey  Paul  and 
every  writer  of  divine  Scripture  rather  than  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff, when  it  comes  to  matters  indifferent  or  neutral.     And 
as  we  are  not  bound  to  follow  any  apostle,  except  in  so  far 
as  he  follows  Jesus  Christ,  so  it  is  evident  by  the  limitation 
laid  down  by  the  apostle  that  we  are  bound  to  obey  no  prel- 
ate who  has  lived  since  the  apostles,  except  as  he  commands 
or  counsels  Christ's  counsels  or  commands.    And  so  the  holy 
apostle,  I  Cor.  4,  11,  when  he  counsels  that  they  be  his  imi- 
tators immediately  announces  the  manner  of  such  imitation, 
when  he  says,  "even  as  I  also  am  a  follower  of  Christ." 
Therefore,  the  wise  inferior  ought  to  examine  into  the  com- 
mands of  a  superior  when  he  seems  to  deviate  from  Christ's 
law,  or  his  rule.     For  no  superior  is  above  correction.    Hence, 
Christ  often  commanded  us  to  be  watchful  in  our  works: 
"I  say  unto  you  all,  watch,"  Mark  13  :  36.    And  the  apostle 
said:    "Beloved,  do  not  believe  every  spirit,  but  prove  the 
spirits  whether  they  be  of  God,  for  many  false  prophets  are 
gone  out  into  the  world,"  I  John  4:1.     The  Saviour  also 
said:    "Many   false  prophets   shall   arise^   and   lead   many 
astray,"  Matt.  24  :  5. 

And  in  this  connection,  St.  Bernard  speaks  very  finely  in 
his  Letter  to  Adam  the  Monk  [Migne,  182  :  100  sg.],^  when 
he  rebukes  him  because  he  had  unwisely  obeyed  his  abbot 

^Surgent;   Vulgate  has  venient. 

'  Adam,  monk  of  Morimond,  a  Cistercian  abbey  in  the  diocese  of  Langres, 
whose  abbot  was  Arnold.    The  letter  is  dated,  in  Migne,  1125. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPERIORS  223 

contrary  to  the  rule  of  his  vow.  Hence,  he  exclaims,  but 
in  a  playful  mood:  "O  most  obedient  of  monks,  whom  of 
all  the  words  of  the  elders  not  a  single  iota  escapes,  he  does 
not  heed  of  what  nature  the  command  is  which  is  commanded, 
satisfied  if  he  only  obeys,  and  this  obedience  is  without 
delay!  If  this  ought  to  be  so,  let  it  now  b*e  scratched  out 
from  the  book  of  the  Gospel,  where  it  is  written,  'Be  ye 
wise  as  serpents';  and  let  that  be  sufficient  which  fol- 
lows: 'simple  as  doves.'  And  I  do  not  say  that  the  com- 
mandments of  superiors  are  to  be  examined  and  judged  by 
inferiors  when  nothing  is  found  to  be  commanded^  at  vari- 
ance with  the  divine  appointments,  but  I  assert  prudence 
to  be  necessary,  by  which  it  may  be  determined  whether 
anything  is  at  variance;  and  also  liberty  to  be  necessary, 
with  which  we  may  honestly  spurn  commands."  Further,  he 
says:  ''I  have  nothing  to  enquire.  Let  him  see  to  it,  who 
has  commanded. 2  Say,  I  ask,  whether,  if  the  sword  were 
put  in  thy  hands,  he  would  order  thee  to  be  struck  in  the 
neck,  wouldst  thou  consent?^  Would  it  not  be  reputed  to 
others  as  homicide,  since  thou  couldst  have  prevented  it? 
Come,  therefore,  see  to  it  lest,  perhaps,  under  the  pretext  of 
obedience,  thou  fall  into  something  more  grave."  Thus  much 
Bernard,  who  adduces  many  testimonies  from  Scripture  and 
concludes:  "Thou,  therefore,  in  the  face  of  all  these  things 
and  other  numberless  testimonies  of  the  truth  to  this  same 
purport,  dost  thou  think  any  one  whosoever  ought  to  be 
obeyed  ?  Hateful  perversity,  this  virtue  of  obedience,  which 
always  wars  against  the  truth,  and  is  girded  about  against 
the  truth!"     Thus  much  Bernard. 

Therefore,  this  same  Bernard  in  his  sermon  on  the  Lord's 
advent  lays  down  five  conditions  of  right  obedience;  the 
first,  when  the  work  is  a  holy  work,  for  it  is  not  permissible 

'  Huss's  text  leaves  out  the  juberi,  Migne. 
*  Migne  has  quid  jusserit. 

'  Migne  adds:  "If  he  had  been  ready  by  thy  act  to  be  thrown  into  the  fire 
or  water,  wouldst  thou  have  obeyed  and  done  it?  " 


224  THE   CHURCH 

to  obey  contrary  to  God;  the  second,  when  the  work  is  vol- 
untary; the  third,  when  it  is  pure  from  the  standpoint  of  a 
holy  purpose,  in  accordance  with  the  Saviour's  teaching,  when 
he  said:  "If  thine  eye  is  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full 
of  light,"  Matt.  6  :  22.  The  fourth  condition  is  when  the 
work  is  judicious,  because  neither  defect  nor  excess  infects 
it,  and  the  fifth,  when  it  is  permanently  persevered  in,  as  an 
obligation,  even  to  the  end.  From  this  it  is  clear  that  an 
inferior,  recognizing  a  superior's  injudicious  command,  that 
it  is  known  or  should  be  known  as  fitted  to  hurt  the  church, 
by  drawing  away  from  the  worship  of  God  and  the  profit  of 
souls  unto  salvation, — he  ought  to  resist  that  superior.  For 
such  resistance  is  true  obedience  done  not  only  to  God  in 
view  of  the  law  of  fraternal  correction  but  also  to  the  su- 
perior himself,  for  no  superior  has  the  right  to  command 
anything  except  what  is  good.  Since,  therefore,  an  inferior 
is  obligated,  for  obedience's  sake,  to  do  that  which  is  gener- 
ically  good  and  commanded  by  the  superior,  it  follows  that 
he  is  obeying  in  so  resisting  him,  as  he  ought;  for  he  thereby 
does  what  is  good,  and  turns  away  from  what  is  evil.  Hence, 
it  is  clear  that  a  subject,  in  obeying  his  prelate  in  that  which 
is  evil,  is  not  excused  from  sin,  for  the  Saviour  says:  "If  the 
blind  guide ^  the  blind,  both  fall  into  the  pit,"  Matt.  15  :  14. 

This  means  that  if  a  "blind  man,"  that  is,  an  ignorant 
or  bad  prelate,  guides  "a  blind  man,"  that  is,  an  ignorant  or 
bad  subject,  by  commanding  him  to  do  something,  they  both 
fall  into  the  pit  of  error.  Hence,  Christ  aptly  says  to  his 
disciples  in  regard  to  the  scribes  and  Pharisees — who  taught 
that  it  is  a  sin  to  eat  bread  with  unwashen  hands,  when  it 
is  nevertheless  not  a  sin: — "Let  them  alone,  they  are  blind 
leaders  of  the  blind."  What  does  "let  them  alone"  mean? 
The  Gloss  says,  "Leave  them  to  their  own  will;  they  are 
blind,"  that  is,  they  are  obscured  by  traditions. 

And  this  rule  of  Christ  the  very  brute  animals  observe, 
^  Prabit  ducatum.     Vulgate:  prastet  ducatum. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPERIORS  225 

for  the  horse  or  the  ass,  discerning  the  hole  in  front  of  them 
and  urged  on  by  spurs,  avoid  the  ditch  so  far  as  they  can, 
as  is  clear  from  the  case  of  the  ass,  which  discerned  the  angel 
forbidding,  lest  it  go  the  way  Balaam  wanted  to  go  [Num. 
22  :  22],  and,  with  a  man's  voice,  admonished  the  prophet's 
unwisdom.  Hence,  Bernard  says  ironically  in  his  letter  to 
the  monk  Adam:  "Thou,  that  most  obedient  son,  thou,  that 
most  devoted  disciple — as  for  that  thy  father  and  teacher, 
whom  neither  by  an  instant  of  time  nor  a  turn  of  the  foot, 
as  they  say,  thou  didst  suffer  to  be  removed  from  thee  as 
long  as  he  lived — after  him  not  with  blind  eyes,  but  after 
the  manner  of  Balaam,  with  open  eyes,  thou  didst  not  hesi- 
tate to  fall  down  into  the  pit!"     So  much  Bernard. 

From  these  truths,  however,  it  follows  further  that  cler- 
ical inferiors,  and  much  more  laics,  may  sit  in  judgment  on 
the  works  of  their  superiors.  From  this  it  follows  that  the 
judgment  by  discreet  and  hidden  arbitrament  in  the  court 
of  conscience  is  one  thing,  and  the  judgment  in  virtue  of  the 
empowered  jurisdiction  in  the  court  of  the  church  is  another. 
By  the  first  way  the  inferior  ought  chiefly  to  examine  and 
judge  himself,  as  it  is  written:  "If  we  would  judge^  ourselves, 
we  would  not  be  judged,"  I  Cor.  11  :  31.  And  again,  in  the 
same  way,  he  ought  to  judge  all  things  pertaining  to  his 
salvation  as  it  is  written:  "He  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all 
things,"  I  Cor.  2  :  15.  The  laic  also  ought  to  examine  and 
judge  the  works  of  his  superior,  as  the  apostle  judged  the 
works  of  Peter,  when  he  corrected  him  and  said:  "When  I 
saw  that  they  walked  not  uprightly  according  to  the  truth 
of  the  Gospel,  I  said  unto  Cephas  before  them  all.  If  thou, 
who  art  a  Jew,  livest  as  do  the  Gentiles  and  not  as  do  the 
Jews,  how  compellest  thou  the  Gentiles  to  walk  as  do  the 
Jews?  "  Gal.  2  :  14.  Secondly,  the  laic  ought  to  examine  and 
judge  his  superior  for  the  purpose  of  fleeing,  for  Christ  said: 
"Beware  of  false  prophets  which  come  unto  you  in  sheep's 
^  Judicaremm;  the  Vulgate  dijudicaremus. 


226  THE  CHURCH 

clothing,  but  inwardly  they  are  ravening  wolves,"  Matt.  7:15. 
Thirdly,  he  ought  to  examine  and  judge  that  the  superior 
may  attend  to  spiritual  offices  and  bodily  nourishment  or 
other  good  works  to  be  done.  For  not  otherwise  should 
clergymen  ever  be  chosen  by  laics  as  their  curates  and  con- 
fessors and  the  dispensers  of  their  alms. 

Therefore,  it  is  lawful  for  the  rich  of  this  world  with 
diligent  scrutiny  to  examine  by  what  and  what  kind  of  su- 
periors they  shall  administer  their  alms  and  in  what  way 
they  shall  administer  them,  guarding  against  rapacious  wolves, 
because  according  to  the  apostle,  in  Acts  20  :  29,  and  accord- 
ing to  Chrysostom,  in  Imperfedo,  Homily  20,  it  is  clear  that 
in  this  way  they  seek  more  the  money  of  those  subject  to 
them  than  their  salvation  and  this  is  at  variance  with  the 
apostle,  who  says:  "I  seek  not  yours,  but  you,"  H  Cor. 
12  :  14.  And  looking  ahead  with  prophetic  vision  and  seeing 
such  false  apostles,  he  affirmed,  "I  know  that  after  my  de- 
parting rapacious  wolves  shall  enter  in  among  you,  not  spar- 
ing the  flock,"  Acts  20  :  29.  And  because  this  wolfishness  is 
clearly  discerned  in  the  robbing  of  temporal  things  and  in 
the  infliction  of  punishments  for  the  very  purpose  of  plun- 
dering temporal  goods  more  abundantly,  he  declares  that 
he  had  himself  pursued  the  opposite  course.  No  man's  gold 
and  silver,  he  says,  or  vestments  have  I  coveted,  as  ye 
yourselves  know,  because  for  those  things  that  were  need- 
ful for  me  and  for  those  that  were  with  me  these  hands  have 
ministered. 

Therefore,  subjects  living  piously  in  Christ  ought  to  pay 
heed  to  the  Hfe  of  the  apostles  and  see  to  it  whether  their 
superiors  hve  conformably  to  the  apostles.  For,  if  in  their 
spiritual  ministry  they  are  out  of  accord  with  the  apostles, 
if  they  are  busy  in  exacting  money,  spurn  evangelical  pov- 
erty and  incline  to  the  world,  nay,  if  they  evidently  sow 
offences,  then  they  know  by  their  works  that  they  have  de- 
parted from  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord,    There- 


ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPERIORS  227 

fore,  O  ye  who  love  Christ's  law  from  the  heart,  first  note 
their  works  and  see  if  they  [the  superiors]  inchne  to  the 
world,  second  give  heed  to  their  commands,  whether  they 
savor  of  avarice  or  the  gain  of  this  world,  and  third  consult 
holy  Scripture  whether  they  command  in  accordance  with 
Christ's  counsel.  And  in  the  light  of  this  counsel  believe 
them;  or  disbeheve  them,  if  they  command  contrary  to  this 
counsel.  But  let  not  curates  say  to  laics,  'What  concern 
is  it  of  yours  to  take  note  of  our  Hfe  or  works,'  for  did  not 
our  Saviour  say:  ''Do  not  according  to  their  works"?  Matt. 
23.  And  afterwards  he  exposed  the  works  of  the  prelates 
to  the  multitude  that  they  might  know  them  and  to  their 
advantage  avoid  them.  Yea,  much  more  to  the  prelates, 
who  say,  'What  concern  is  it  of  yours  to  take  note  of  our 
life  and  works?'  it  is  pertinent  for  laics  to  reply:  'What 
concern  is  it  of  yours  that  ye  should  receive  our  alms?'  for 
the  apostle  says:  "We  command  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  that  ye  withdraw  yourselves  from  every  brother  that 
walketh  disorderly  and  not  after  the  tradition  which  they 
received  of  us,  for  ye  yourselves  know  how  ye  ought  to  imi- 
tate us,  for  we  behaved  not  ourselves  disorderly  among  you, 
neither  did  we  eat  bread  for  naught  at  any  man's  hands,  but 
in  labor  and  travail,  for  even  when  we  were  with  you,  this 
we  commanded  you,  If  any  man  will  not  work,  neither  let 
him  eat."  II  Thess.  3  :  6,  10. 

It  is  clear  how  inferiors  ought  to  examine  and  judge  in- 
telligently and  reasonably  in  respect  to  the  commands  and 
works  of  superiors,  for  otherwise  they  would  be  in  peril  of 
eternal  death,  if  they  did  not  judge  wisely  about  these  things, 
how  far  they  ought  to  beheve  their  superiors,  how  far  follow 
them,  and  in  what  things  they  ought  intelligently  to  obey 
them  according  to  the  Lord's  law.  For  that  best  of  masters, 
the  Lord,  admonished  us  in  advance  to  "beware  of  false 
prophets  and  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees,"  Matt.  7  :  15; 
16  :  II.    He  also  said:    "Believe  not,  go  not  forth  and  do 


228  THE  CHURCH 

not  do  their  works,"  Matt.  24  :  26.  For  he  himself  exhorted 
the  priests  and  the  multitude  to  examine  and  judge  in  re- 
spect to  his  works,  saying,  "Which  of  you  convicteth  me  of 
sin?"  John  8  :  46,  and,  "Though  ye  believe  not  me,  believe 
the  works,"  John  10  :  38.  And  what  an  evil  it  is  of  Christ's 
church  that  our  superiors  make  a  larger  demand  that  belief 
be  given  to  all  their  approving  and  condemning  judgments, 
than  that  belief  be  given  to  the  faith  of  holy  Scripture, 
which  is  the  catholic  faith.  And  they  punish  more  severely 
for  departure  from  their  traditions  than  they  do  those  who 
blaspheme  against  that  most  excellent  faith  of  Christ.  And 
so  to  them  the  words  of  the  Psalm  [41  :  g]  may  be  applied: 
"He  that  ate  of  my  bread  hath  lifted  up  his  heel  against 
me."  For  as  they  affirm,  they  themselves  eat  up  Christ's 
patrimony  and  nevertheless  they  put  a  higher  value  on  their 
commandments  than  on  the  commandments  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  himself. 


CHAPTER  XX 

OBEDIENCE   NOT  ALWAYS  TO  BE   RENDERED   TO  THE 
CHURCH  OR  ITS   PRELATES 

Again,  that  the  doctors  in  their  double  statement  may  be 
better  understood,  since  they  say  that  "the  Roman  church 
and  the  prelates  are  to  be  obeyed  in  all  things  by  their  in- 
feriors," etc.,^  and  again,  "Therefore  ought  they  to  be  obeyed 
and  submitted  to,"  I  take  it  as  true  from  the  rules  of  grammar 
that  this  complex  statement  "are  to  be  obeyed"  means  as 
much  as  the  complex  expression,  "ought  to  obey,"  and  fur- 
ther, that  this  word  "ought"  expresses  a  debt  of  obHgation 
to  obey  under  pain  of  mortal  sin.  This  supposition  appears 
from  the  affirmation  of  the  doctors  derived  from  the  words 
of  the  Saviour:  "All  things  whatsoever  they  bid  you,  these 
do  and  observe,"  Matt.  23  :  3.  For  this  word  of  the  Lord 
is  a  commandment.  Secondly,  this  supposition  appears  from 
the  words  of  the  doctors,  when  they  say:  "Certain  of  the 
clergy  in  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  who  do  not  agree,  striv- 
ing, so  far  as  in  their  power  hes,  to  lead  the  faithful  people 
to  disobedience  in  respect  to  their  prelates  and  to  irrever- 
ence for  the  papal,  episcopal,  priestly  and  clerical  dignities." 
It  is  only  noted  that  there  would  be  mortal  sin  in  disobedi- 
ence, and  irreverence  would  be  mortal  sin.  Thirdly,  this  sup- 
position appears  from  the  assertion  of  St.  Augustine,  when 
he  says:  "If  thou  art  not  obedient  to  thy  father  (under- 
stand not  thy  bodily  father  but  thy  spiritual  father)  thou 
hast  lost  all  the  virtues."  In  this  way  it  is  plain  that  a 
virtuous  man  is  not  able  to  lose  all  the  virtues  except  by 

'  In  his  de  sex  Erroribus,  Huss  has  a  chapter  on  obedience,  Mon.,  i  :  238  sq., 
in  which  he  denies  that  it  is  to  be  rendered  in  all  cases  to  ecclesiastical  superiors. 
The  terms,  "inferiors"  and  "subjects"  refer  to  ecclesiastical  rank  and  orders. 

229 


230  THE  CHURCH 

committing  mortal  sin,  and  so  disobedience  to  authority  in- 
volves a  serious  ofifence.  Therefore  this  statement,  taken 
from  the  proposition  of  the  doctors,  "the  Roman  church 
and  prelates  are  to  be  obeyed  by  inferiors  in  all  things," 
etc.,  means  this  much:  "that  we  ought  to  obey  under  pain 
of  mortal  sin." 

Therefore,  following  this  sense,  they  now  cry  out  that 
I  am  disobedient  to  the  Roman  church,  and  for  this  they 
excommunicate  me.  And  it  is  clear  from  God's  law  and 
from  the  canons  that  no  one  is  to  be  excommunicated  except 
for  mortal  sin,  as  I  have  stated  in  another  place. 

Letting  this  proposition  stand,  I  lay  down  this  conclu- 
sion, that  to  no  apostolic  seat  of  the  Roman  church,  that 
is,  to  no  pope  with  the  cardinals  (as  these  are  understood  by 
the  doctors),  and  to  no  prelates  do  inferiors  owe  obedience 
in  all  things  which  are  neither  purely  good  nor  purely  evil. 

It  is  proved  that  king,  marquis,  duke,  baron,  soldier,  citi- 
zen or  rustic  is  bound  to  obey  under  pain  of  mortal  sin  no 
Roman  church  and  no  prelates  so  as  to  be  prevented  from 
holding  worldly  possessions  or  from  entering  marriage.  These 
two  things,  the  possession  of  goods  and  the  entrance  upon 
marriage,  belong,  in  the  case  of  the  persons  mentioned,  neither 
to  the  class  of  purely  good  things  nor  things  purely  evil. 
Hence  the  conclusion.  The  consequence  has  been  noted  and 
the  minor  premise  is  presented  in  St.  Bernard's  letter  to  the 
monk  Adam  [Migne,  182  :  96],  when  he  says:  "Truly  it  must 
be  known  that  things  intermediate  often  cease  to  be  so.  For 
marriage  may  be  lawfully  contracted  or  not,  but  when  once 
contracted  it  cannot  be  dissolved.  Therefore,  what  before 
marriage  is  permitted  to  be  a  thing  intermediate  obtains, 
when  the  parties  are  married,  the  force  of  a  thing  absolutely 
good.  Likewise,  the  possession  of  private  property  is  for  a 
secular  man  a  thing  intermediate  for  he  may  or  may  not  have 
property,  but  for  a  monk,  because  he  is  not  permitted  to  hold 
property,  it  is  a  thing  absolutely  evil."    So  much  Bernard. 


OBEDIENCE  TO  THE   CHURCH  231 

The  major  premise  is  proved  in  this  way.  No  Roman 
church  is  permitted  to  command,  under  pain  of  mortal  sin, 
that  king,  marquis,  duke,  baron,  soldier,  citizen  or  rustic 
enter  upon  matrimony  or  that  he  may  not  hold  private 
property,  therefore  none  of  the  persons  mentioned  are  bound 
to  obey  under  pain  of  mortal  sin.  The  consequence  has  been 
noted  and  the  antecedent  is  clear,  because  the  Roman  church 
has  no  right  to  exalt  its  commandment  above  a  counsel  of 
Christ.  In  commanding,  however,  that  a  king,  marquis, 
duke,  baron  or  soldier  may  not  hold  property,  the  Roman 
church  would  exalt  its  commandment  above  Christ's  counsel, 
for  this  is  the  first  among  the  twelve  chief  evangelical  coun- 
sels, namely,  voluntary  poverty,  which  consists  in  the  re- 
nunciation of  private  property  and  is  related  to  need,  Christ 
counselled,  he  did  not  command,  when  he  says  to  a  certain 
young  ruler:  ''If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  all  that 
thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor  and  follow  me,"  Matt.  19  :  21. 
Similarly,  if  the  Roman  church  commands  king,  marquis, 
duke  or  other  secular  person  to  enter  upon  marriage  it 
would  be  commanding  contrary  to  a  counsel  of  Christ  and 
would  it,  therefore,  not  be  acting  contrary  to  Christ?  The 
observance  of  virginal  chastity  until  death  is  Christ's  third 
evangelical  counsel,  and  of  this  he  says:  "There  are  eunuchs 
that  made  themselves  eunuchs  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's 
sake,"  Matt.  19  :  12 — because  Christ  does  not  command  but 
counsels  that  what  is  fitting  for  a  person,  that  he  ought  with 
good  will  to  hold,  and  he  says:  "He  that  is  able  to  receive 
it,  let  him  receive  it." 

Therefore,  it  would  be  great  presumption  for  the  Roman 
church  to  bind  any  one,  under  pain  of  mortal  sin,  above  what 
the  counsels  of  his  Lord  demand.  This  would  be  to  lay  un- 
bearable burdens  on  men's  shoulders,  as  said  the  Saviour: 
The  things  which  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  sitting  in  Moses' 
seat,  do  not  keep  they  lay  upon  others.  Hence,  Christ's 
apostle,  who  saw  the  secret  things  of  God,  which  the  Roman 


232  THE   CHURCH 

church  has  not  seen,  says  that  he  did  not  dare  to  command 
any  one  to  marry  and  not  to  remain  continent,  for  he  says: 
"Every  one  hath  his  own  gift  of  God,  one  after  this  manner, 
one  after  that,"  I  Cor.  7:7.  The  apostle  did  not  wish  to 
command  anything  except  what  the  Lord  commanded  through 
him  and  so  what  was  useful  to  the  one  obeying.  For  there 
are  many  counsels  for  others  which  are  not  counsels  for  us, 
because  of  our  weakness  or  ignorance,  so  that  one  may  marry 
in  the  Lord  without  mortal  sin,  when,  however,  it  would  be 
better  to  keep  his  virgin  state,  but  he  is  ignorant,  believing 
the  opposite.  Therefore,  the  apostle  says:  ''Every  one  has 
his  own  gift  from  God,  one  after  this  manner,  one  after  that." 
And  the  words  follow:  "But  if  they  cannot  contain,  let 
them  marry,  for  it  is  better  to  marry  than  to  burn."  Some 
things,  therefore,  are  more  useful  to  some  which  for  others 
would  be  less  useful.  Hence,  it  would  be  a  notable  mistake 
to  think  that  all  Christ's  counsels  would  be  profitable  for  all 
men  if  they  fulfilled  them  to  the  letter.  And  hence  a  son 
is  not  bound  to  obey  his  father  under  pain  of  mortal  sin, 
when  the  father  commands  that  the  son  possess  nothing  or 
that  he  marry.  In  a  similar  way,  it  is  also  with  a  daughter, 
who  cannot  lawfully  be  forced  to  remain  a  virgin  till  death 
or  be  forced  to  marry. 

Likewise,  if  that  statement  of  the  doctors  be  true  that 
"the  apostolic  seat  of  the  Roman  church  is  to  be  obeyed  by 
inferiors  in  all  things,"  etc.,  it  follows  that  Wenzel,  king  of 
the  Romans  and  king  of  Bohemia,  and  likewise  Sigismund, 
king  of  Hungary,  would  be  continually  sinning  mortal  sins, 
for  they  have  not  given  obedience  to  the  commandments  of 
the  Roman  church  and  Pope  Boniface  with  his  cardinals, 
and  resigned  their  kingdoms,  the  former  the  kingdom  of  the 
Romans,  the  latter  the  kingdom  of  Hungary.^    And  this  is 

*  This  act  of  Boniface  IX,  1403,  referred  to  by  the  university  of  Prague,  Doc, 
500,  was  a  deposition  of  Wenzel  in  favor  of  Ruprecht,  who  had  been  chosen 
king  of  the  Romans  by  three  of  the  electors,  1400.  Ruprecht  threatened  to 
pass  over  to  the  obedience  of  the  Avignon  line.  See  also  Huss's  Reply  to  Palecz, 
Moti.,  I  :  329. 


OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  CHURCH  233 

clear  because  to  resign  their  kingdoms  is  for  the  one  as  for 
the  other  not  a  thing  absolutely  evil,  as  is  seen  from  the  state- 
ment of  Bernard.  And  as  these  kings  have  not  yet  obeyed 
that  mandate  or  been  absolved  by  Boniface,  it  follows  that 
they  are  still  persisting  in  disobedience.  But  who  of  sound 
head  would  want  to  say  this,  seeing  that  that  Pope  Boniface, 
according  to  the  Lord's  law,  ought  not  to  have  attempted  to 
bring  this  about? 

Likewise,  it  follows  that  certain  persons,  according  to  the 
statement  of  the  doctors,  to  wit,  Stanislaus,  Peter  of  Znaim, 
John  Helius  and  yet  another,  are  still  under  the  ban  of  papal 
excommunication.  This  seems  to  be  the  case,  because  they 
have  not  obeyed  up  to  this  day  the  apostolic  seat  of  the 
Roman  curia,  or,  if  on  account  of  contentions  they  have 
secretly  obeyed,  they  are,  however,  not  absolved  from  the 
curse,  as  the  mandate  was  placed  upon  them  by  the  pontiflf 
Innocent,  under  the  pains  of  excommunication,  deprivation 
of  their  benefices  and  disenablement,  that  they  really  should 
give  up  and  assign  to  Master  Mauritius  the  place  which  he 
wished.  And  they  themselves,  though  solemnly  warned  by 
a  notary  before  witnesses,  do  not  up  to  this  day  obey  that 
mandate,  although  the  turning  over  of  a  place  to  Master 
Mauritius  which  was  commanded  is  not  a  thing  absolutely 
evil,  although  perhaps  it  is  an  evil  for  Master  Mauritius 
that  they  in  such  an  unusual  degree  like  that  place.  And 
to  the  doctors  themselves  perhaps  it  is  also  an  "evil  because, 
loving  the  first  place  in  the  synagogues,  they  do  not  admit 
Mauritius  himself.^  Oh!  that  on  both  sides  they  may  not 
come  under  the  heading  of  the  salutation  of  that  most 
lowly  of  masters,  Christ,  which  runs:   "Woe  unto  you  Phari- 

*  Mauritius-Marik  Rwacka  found  favor  with  Innocent  VII,  d.  1406,  who 
called  upon  the  theological  faculty  of  Prague  to  make  a  place  for  him  in  the 
imiversity  on  pain  of  excommunication,  which  it  neglected  to  do,  Documenta, 
pp.  53,  500.  He  was  one  of  a  deputation  sent  to  Rome,  1408,  by  King  Wenzel. 
He  was  then  made  papal  inquisitor,  with  whom  Huss  had  something  to  do.  Doc, 
164,  184.  Huss  also  refers  to  the  case  of  Mauritius  and  the  university's  dis- 
obedience to  the  papal  mandate  in  Reply  to  Palecz,  Mon.,  i  :  329. 


234  THE   CHURCH 

sees,  that  love  the  chief  seats  in  the  synagogues!"  Luke 
II  :  43,  "and  to  be  called  of  men  Rabbi!"  Matt.  23  :  7. 

Likewise  in  acts  good  generically,  as  are  fasting  and 
prayer — which  are  not  things  absolutely  evil — the  Roman 
church  and  prelates  are  not  to  be  obeyed  except  as  these 
acts  are  weighed  in  the  balances  of  reason.  .  This  is  plain 
because  an  inferior  must  continue  in  prayer  and  fasting,  so 
far  that  the  neglect  to  do  so  would  mean  damage  to  him- 
self  and  the  church;  but  this  is  to  be  avoided  both  by  him 
who  commands  and  by  the  inferior;  therefore,  the  antecedent 
is  true.  For  it  is  certain  that  it  would  be  tempting  God  to 
obey  a  prelate  or  for  me  to  vow  to  myself  that  I  would  never 
eat  or  drink  but  so  much  and  never  have  but  so  many  clothes 
or  wraps.  And  the  same  would  be  true  with  the  other  coun- 
sels, wrongly  interpreted.  And  much  more  would  it  be  folly 
for  a  prelate  to  obligate  a  community  to  perform  such  a 
singular  measure  of  conduct  as  this.  For  one  and  the  self- 
same individual,  in  view  of  the  diversity  of  the  times,  of  weak- 
ness and  health,  of  youth  and  old  age,  of  heat  and  cold,  must 
vary  in  practices  of  this  sort;  and  much  more  in  a  commu- 
nity made  up  of  different  persons  are  things  that  are  indiffer- 
ent to  be  adapted  to  individuals  of  different  temperaments 
and  states  of  health.  According  to  Aristotle,  Ethics,  II,  that 
which  is  a  matter  of  indifference  does  not  apply  in  the  same 
way  to  all.  For  in  the  indifferent  matter  of  eating,  the 
amount  proportioned  to  Milo,  who  wished  to  eat  a  whole  bull 
in  a  day,  would  not  be  the  amount  proportioned  for  every 
individual  whatsoever,  young  or  decrepit,  sound  or  weak. 

Hence,  the  Saviour  wholly  excused  his  disciples  who  were 
accused  of  not  fasting,  when  it  is  said:  "Then  came  to  him 
the  disciples  of  John  saying.  Why  do  we  and  the  Pharisees 
fast  oft,  but  thy  disciples  fast  not?"  Matt.  9  :  14.  To  these 
calumniators  who  joined  themselves  with  the  Pharisees  in 
reproving  Christ,  the  Saviour  replied  for  his  disciples  and 
said:   "Can  the  sons  of  the  bridegroom  mourn  as  long  as  the 


OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  CHURCH  235 

bridegroom  is  with  them?  But  the  days  will  come  when 
the  bridegroom  will  be  taken  away  from  them  and  then  they 
will  fast.  And  no  man  putteth^  a  piece  of  undressed  cloth 
upon  an  old  garment,  for  that  which  would  fill  it  up,  taketh 
from  the  garment  and  a  worse  rent  is  made.  Neither  do  men 
put  new  wine  into  old  wine-skins,  or  else  the  wine-skins  burst 
and  the  wine  is  spilt  and  the  skins  perish,  but  they  put  new 
wine  into  new  skins  and  both  are  preserved,"  Matt.  9  :  15-17. 
Here  the  Saviour  excuses  his  disciples  for  not  fasting,  first  for 
the  reason  that  he,  the  bridegroom  of  the  church,  was  at  that 
time  with  his  children  and  providing  for  them;  secondly,  be- 
cause that  bodily  fasting  did  not  befit  them  for  that  time,  as 
Lyra  says:  "Wherefore  does  the  bridegroom  say,  'Can  the 
children  of  the  bridegroom  mourn  ? '  that  is,  be  sad  by  afflict- 
ing themselves  with  fasting  ? — which  is  as  if  he  should  say,  No, 
for  fasting  does  not  befit  them  now,  'but  the  days  will  come,' 
namely,  the  days  of  the  passion,  'when  the  bridegroom  will 
be  taken  away  from  them'  by  death,  and  'then  they  will 
fast,'  that  is,  with  the  fasting  of  grief,  as  it  is  written:  'Ye 
shall  weep  and  lament,'  John  16  :  20.  'Then  shall  they 
fast,'  namely,  at  a  time  when  such  fasting  befits  them.  And 
then  by  a  double  example  the  Saviour  proves  that  bodily 
fasting  did  not  befit  them  at  that  time."  Supplications  are 
also  touched  upon  in  Luke  5  :  33,  when  they  said:  "Why 
do  the  disciples  of  John  fast  often  and  make  supplications,^ 
likewise  also  the  disciples  of  the  Pharisees,  but  thine  eat  and 
drink?  And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Can  ye  make  the  sons 
of  the  bridegroom  fast  when  the  bridegroom  is  with  them?" 
which  is  as  much  as  to  say,  apart  from  the  bridegroom's  will 
ye  cannot  lawfully  make  his  sons  to  fast. 

Truly  Christ  is  the  good  prior  and  abbot,  who  does  not 
burden  his  disciples  but,  laying  on  them  an  easy  yoke  and 
a  light  burden,  says  of  the  Pharisees  and  scribes,  sitting  in 

^Committit.     The  Vulgate:  immiUit. 

"^ Ohservationes .    The  Vulgate:  obsecrationes 


236  THE  CHURCH 

Moses'  seat,  that  they  lay  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to 
be  borne  on  men's  shoulders,  but  do  not  move  them  with 
one  of  their  own  fingers.  Even  so,  modern  prelates  and 
penitentiaries  impose  many  fastings,  many  prayers,  and  other 
hard  things  upon  the  people,  and  they  alone  do  not  do  the 
least  of  them. 

Hence,  they  more  often  say:  "Let  us  eat  and  gamble  and 
the  coarse  may  do  our  fasting."  Therefore,  when  the  Saviour 
calls  such  hard  commandments  as  they  lay  upon  men  un- 
bearable burdens  because  they  are  weighty  beyond  Christ's 
counsels  and  commands,  what  wise  man  will  say  that  infe- 
riors are  bound  in  such  things  to  obey  their  prelate  under 
pain  of  mortal  sin?  Likewise  to  eat  with  unwashen  hands 
is  a  neutral  work,  neither  absolutely  good  nor  absolutely 
evil,  and  Christ's  disciples  were  not  obligated  by  the  com- 
mand of  those  sitting  in  Moses'  seat  to  do  it.  Nor  are  we 
now.  The  consequence  has  been  stated,  for  the  reasoning 
is  the  same  in  the  case  of  traditions  of  this  kind,  which  are 
not  founded  in  the  Lord's  law. 

The  second  part  is  manifest  from  Matt.  15  :  2,  when  the 
Pharisees  and  scribes  said  to  Jesus,  "Why  do  thy  disciples 
transgress  the  traditions  of  the  elders?  for  they  wash  not 
their  hands  when  they  eat  bread,"  but  he,  rebuking  them 
for  the  transgression  of  God's  commandments,  showed  that 
his  disciples  did  not  sin  in  not  keeping  their  command- 
ments, and  he  said:  "To  eat  with  unwashen  hands  defileth 
not  the  man."  What,  therefore,  is  the  reason  now,  that  any 
inferior  in  any  act  whatsoever  that  is  neutral  or  intermediate 
should  be  obligated  to  obey  his  prelate,  if  it  happens  that 
the  prelate  is  callous,  who  indiscreetly  and  overmuch  bur- 
dens an  inferior  with  such  neutral  acts?  Hence,  as  said 
above,  Bernard  well  lays  down  the  conditions  of  obedience, 
one  of  which  is  that  a  work  commanded  is  judicious  when 
neither  excess  nor  defect  attaches  to  it. 

Hence,  no  human  commandment  or  decree  is  valid  or  to 


OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  CHURCH  237 

be  observed  except  in  so  far  as  it  is  caused  by  a  divine  com- 
mand before  exemplifying  it. 

And  hence,  it  is,  that  no  obedience  made  to  a  superior 
profits  for  merit  except  in  so  far  as  it  leans  towards  obedi- 
ence of  the  counsels  and  commandments  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  This  is  clear,  for  obedience  to  Christ,  owed  or  per- 
formed, is  in  and  by  itself  a  reason  of  merit  which  increases 
or  diminishes  with  the  degree  of  obedience  or  disobedience. 
Hence  nothing  is  more  religious  than  obedience  unto  God, 
as  the  Decretum  8:1,  Sciendum  [Friedberg,  i  :  593],  teaches, 
where  is  noted  what  Samuel,  the  prophet,  says,  I  Sam.  15  :  22 : 
"To  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  for  rebellion  is  as  the  sin 
of  witchcraft  and  stubbornness  as  a  crime." ^  "Obedience 
itself,"  says  the  Decretum,  "is  a  virtue  that  possesses  the  merit 
of  faith,  and  any  one  who  is  without  it,  is  convicted  of 
being  an  unbeliever,  even  though  he  seem  to  be  of  the  faith- 
ful. The  flesh  of  others,  it  says,  is  slaughtered  in  the  case 
of  sacrifices,  but  by  obedience  our  own  will  is  sacrificed." 
Here  it  appears,  it  is  clearer  than  the  light,  that  Samuel  is 
speaking  about  obedience  due  to  God,  for  he  said  to  Saul: 
"Because  thou  hast  rejected  the  word  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord 
hath  rejected  thee  from  being  king,  and  Saul  said  unto  Sam- 
uel, 'I  have  sinned,  because  I  have  transgressed  the  com- 
mandment of  the  Lord  and  thy  words,  for  I  feared  the  people 
and  obeyed  their  voice,'"  I  Sam.  15  :  23,  24.  It  is  clear  how 
much  prelates  of  the  people  blaspheme  who  on  the  ground 
of  Scripture  and  ecclesiastical  law  traffic  in  such  obedience 
for  themselves;  secondly,  from  Augustine's  authority,  which 
the  doctors  quote  for  their  side.  Sermon  86,  when  he  says: 
"If  thou  wilt  fast,  make  prayer  night  and  day,  if  thou  wilt 
beg,  or  be  in  ashes,  or  if  thou  wilt  do  anything  else  but  what 
is  commanded  in  the  Lord's  law,  and  thou  seemest  wise  to 
thyself  and  art  not  obedient  to  the  Father  [understand  not 
the  corporal  Father,  but  the  spiritual  Father] — thou  hast 
lost  all  the  virtues.  This  is  clear,  because  he  who  obeys 
*  The  Vulgate  adds:  idolatries,  of  idolatry. 


238  THE   CHURCH 

not  God,  as  his  spiritual  Father,  has  lost  all  the  virtues." 
And  hence  Augustine  adds:  "Therefore  obedience  profits 
more  than  all  the  other  moral  virtues."  Far-fetched,  there- 
fore, is  the  proof  of  the  doctors  who  seek  to  deduce  from 
this  authority  what  they  propose. 

Further  I  lay  down  this  conclusion  and  in  spite  of  the 
pretended — pratensa — excommunication,  threatened  or  al- 
ready issued,  that  the  Christian  ought  to  follow  the  com- 
mandments of  Christ.  This  appears  from  the  conclusion  of 
St.  Peter  and  the  other  apostles:  "We  must  obey  God  rather 
than  men,"  Acts  5  :  29.  From  this  it  follows  logically  that 
Christ's  priest,  who  lives  according  to  his  law,  and  has  a 
knowledge  of  the  Scripture  and  a  desire  to  edify  the  people, 
ought  to  preach,  a  pretended  excommunication  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding.  This  is  clear,  for  to  preach  the  Word 
of  God  is  a  command  to  priests,  as  the  apostle  Peter  bears 
witness,  when  he  says:  "God  charged  us  to  preach  unto  the 
people  and  to  testify,"  Acts  10  :  42.  Jesus  sent  out  the 
twelve,  commanding  them  and  saying:  "Go  not  into  any 
way  of  the  gentiles  .  .  .  and  as  ye  go,  preach,  saying.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand,"  Matt.  10  :  5-7.  The  same 
appears  from  Luke,  chapters  9  and  10,  and  also  from  what 
Augustine  says.  Prologue  to  his  Sermons:  "Few  are  the  priests 
who  rightly  preach  God's  Word,  but  many  are  they  who 
accursedly  keep  silence — some  from  ignorance,  who  refuse 
to  teach  and  some  from  neglect,  because  they  spurn  God's 
Word;  but  neither  the  former  nor  the  latter  may  be  ex- 
cused from  the  guilt  of  keeping  silence,  since  they  ought  not 
to  have  a  place  of  authority  who  do  not  know  how  to  preach, 
nor  ought  they  to  keep  silent  who  know  how  to  preach,  how- 
beit  they  are  not  in  places  of  authority." 

Likewise  is  this  clear  from  what  St.  Jerome  says  on  Ezek. 
3  :  18:  "When  I  say  to  the  wicked,  Thou  shalt  surely  die,  and 
thou  givest  him  not  warning,  nor  speakest  to  warn  the  wicked 
from  his  wicked  way  to  save  his  life,  the  same  wicked  man 


OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  CHURCH  239 

shall  die  in  his  iniquity,  but  his  blood  will  I  require  of  thy 
hand."  Here  Jerome  says:  ''The  priest  is  bound  to  preach, 
and  let  him  see  to  it  that  fear  of  man  does  not  make  him  to 
keep  silence.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  keeping  of 
the  words  of  God  silent  for  three  causes — namely,  out  of  fear, 
stupidity  or  flattery."  Likewise  is  this  clear  from  Gregory, 
Pastoral  Theology,  15  :  43,  sit  rector  [Nic.  Fathers,  2d  Ser., 
12  :  27,  Friedberg,  i  :  154],  where  he  gives  most  solemn 
proof  from  many  Scripture  texts  and,  among  other  things, 
says:  "Indeed  it  is  written  that  'the  sound  shall  be  heard 
when  he  [Aaron]  enters  into  the  holy  place  in  the  presence 
of  the  Lord  .  .  .  that  he  die  not'  [Ex.  28  :  33-35]-  For  the 
priest,  going  in  or  coming  out  dies  if  a  sound  is  not  heard 
from  him,  because  he  gets  to  himself  the  anger  of  the  hidden 
judge,  if  he  goes  in  without  the  sound  of  preaching."  The 
same  is  clear  from  St.  Isidore,  who  says,  de  Summo  Bono,  III: 
"Priests  are  condemned  for  the  people's  iniquity  if  they  do 
not  instruct  the  ignorant  or  convict  sinners." 

When,  therefore,  in  view  of  what  has  been  said,  any  one 
who  has  reached  the  priesthood  has  accepted  as  of  com- 
mandment the  ofiice  of  preacher,  it  is  clear  that  that  com- 
mandment ought  to  be  executed,  a  pretended  excommuni- 
cation to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

Likewise  for  no  true  catholic  ought  it  to  become  a  matter 
of  doubt  that  a  man  if  he  be  adequately  trained  in  knowl- 
edge is  more  obligated  to  teach  the  ignorant,  to  advise  the 
uncertain,  to  punish  the  unbridled,  to  remit  sins  to  those 
committing  injury,  than  he  is  to  do  any  works  of  mercy. 
Since,  therefore,  when  he  is  fitted  for  the  ministry  of  alms 
for  the  body,  he  is  bound  to  do  these  things  under  pain  of 
damnation,  as  appears  from  Matt.  25 — much  more  when  he 
is  fitted  to  administer  spiritual  alms  [is  he  under  obligation 
to  do  spiritual  ministries].  From  this  it  is  evident  that 
preaching  for  the  priest  and  giving  alms  for  the  rich  are 
not  things  intermediate  but  commandments. 


240  THE  CHURCH 

Further,  it  is  evident  that  if  pope  or  other  superior  com- 
mand the  priest  not  to  preach,  who  is  disposed  to  do  so 
(as  has  been  said),  or  the  rich  not  to  give  ahns,  the  inferior 
ought  not  to  obey.  Wherefore,  depending  on  this  command 
of  the  Lord,  I  have  not  obeyed  Pope  Alexander's  command 
in  regard  to  not  preaching  and  hence  will  humbly  bear  ex- 
communication,^ confident  that  I  will  secure  to  myself  the 
benediction  of  my  God.  And  as  to  God,  the  Psalmist  says: 
"Let  them  be  accursed,  but  do  thou  bless."  And  he  also 
blessed,  when  he  said:  "Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  re- 
proach you  and  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely 
for  my  sake.  Rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad,  for  great  is 
your  reward  in  heaven,"  Matt.  5  :  11,  12. 

^This  was  the  papal  bull  of  Dec.  20,  1409,  which  forbade  preaching  in 
chapels  which,  like  Bethlehem  chapel,  were  not  connected  with  a  cathedral, 
collegiate  or  conventual  church  or  their  cemeteries.     Doc,  p.  375. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

CIRCUMSTANCES  UNDER  WHICH  OBEDIENCE  IS  TO 
BE   RENDERED   TO   PRELATES 

Now  as  to  the  authorities  which  the  doctors  have  ad- 
duced to  emphasize  the  necessity  of  human  obedience,  the 
following  is  briefly  to  be  said.  For,  in  the  first  place,  they 
say:  "The  Roman  church  and  prelates  are  to  be  obeyed 
by  inferiors  in  all  things,  according  to  the  Saviour's  state- 
ment, 'All  things  whatsoever  they  bid  you,  these  do  and 
observe,'"  Matt.  23  :  2.^  Here  I  wonder  why  the  doctors 
openly  cut  oflF  the  Saviour's  previous  words,  for  they  do  not 
quote:  "The  scribes  and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat." 
Nor  did  they  add  the  later  words,  "Do  not  ye  according 
to  their  works,"  but  they  only  quote  the  intervening  words: 
"All  things  whatsoever  they  bid  you,  these  do  and  observe." 
Here  it  seems  to  me  that  they  have  so  done  because  the 
pope  and  other  prelates  of  the  church  do  not  wish  to  be 
compared  with  scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  if  anything  is 
said  of  their  evil  works  they  are  indignant;  and  because  also 
the  doctors  and  masters  are  flattered  by  such  things,  and 
so  the  former  heap  up  to  themselves  masters  having  itching 
ears  who  turn  away  from  the  truth  and  the  masters  are 
flattered.  Therefore,  the  apostle's  prophecy  is  fulfilled  in 
both  particulars,  for  he  adjures  Timothy  saying:  "I  charge 
thee  in  the  sight  of  God  and  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  judge 
the  living  and  the  dead,  and  by  his  appearing  and  his  king- 
dom:  preach  the  word;   be  urgent  in  season,  out  of  season; 

'  The  exegesis  of  this  passage,  upon  which  so  much  stress  is  laid,  Huss  takes 
up  again  at  length,  ad  octo  Doctores,  Mon.,  i  :  408. 

241 


242  THE  CHURCH 

reprove,  rebuke,  exhort,  with  all  longsuffering  and  teach- 
ing. For  the  time  will  come,  when  they  will  not  endure 
sound  doctrine,  but  having  itching  ears  they  will  heap  to 
themselves  teachers  after  their  own  lusts  and  will  turn  away 
their  ears  from  the  truth  and  turn  aside  unto  fables,"  II  Tim, 
4  :  1-4.  It  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  wondered  at  that  prel- 
ates gratefully  accept  the  statements  of  the  aforesaid  doc- 
tors, for  they  anoint  all  those  statements  with  the  oil  of 
flattery  and  do  not  lay  down  a  single  word  of  correction  with 
intent  to  suppress  their  wickedness.  But  a  Master,  a  Bishop, 
and  most  just  Judge  will  come,  who  will  think  most  right-  , 
eously  of  the  j&attering  speaking  of  the  doctors  and  the 
wickedness  of  the  prelates,  even  he  who  said:  ''The  scribes 
and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat,  all  things,  therefore,  what- 
soever they  bid  you,  these  do  and  observe,  but  do  not  ac- 
cording to  their  works,  for  they  say  and  do  not." 

Truly  this  Master  never  spoke  fair  of  the  wickedness  of 
prelates  and  doctors.  He  spoke  the  truth,  taught  his  own 
faithful  ones  and  confuted  the  scribes,  sitting  in  Moses'  seat, 
because  of  their  evil  works.  He  spoke  truth  and  taught 
truth,  for  he  sat  in  Moses'  seat,  that  is,  the  authority  of 
judging  and  teaching  God's  law,  as  has  been  shown  above, 
Chapter  XVIII. 

By  that  authority  Moses  said:  "They  come  unto  me, 
that  I  may  judge  between  them  and  show  them  the  statutes 
of  God  and  his  law,"  Ex.  18  :  16.  "All  things,  therefore, 
whatsoever  they  bid  you,"  that  is,  pertaining  to  the  seat  of 
judgment,  "do,"  namely,  from  the  heart,  "and  observe," 
namely,  in  deed.  "But  do  not  according  to  their  works," 
that  is,  keep  their  doctrine,  do  not  follow  their  life:  "for 
they  say  and  do  not."  Chrysostom  says:  "They  preach  the 
faith  and  act  in  unbehef,  give  to  others  peace  and  do  not 
have  it  themselves,  cry  out  the  truth  and  love  a  lie,  denounce 
avarice  and  love  covetousness."  Augustine,  as  above,  on 
Ex.  18,  says:  "Sitting  in  Moses'  seat,  they  teach  God's  law; 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES  243 

therefore,  God  teaches  through  them,  but,  if  they  wish  to 
teach  their  own  things,  do  not  hear  them,  do  not  do  them." 

Therefore,  most  true  is  Christ's  saying  and  command,  by 
which  it  is  clear  that  he  does  not  command  the  keeping  and 
doing  of  all  the  precepts  of  those  who  sit  in  Moses'  seat, 
for  otherwise  he  would  not  have  said:  "They  lay  heavy 
burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne,"  and  consequently  bur- 
dens which  ought  not  to  be  borne.  And  in  the  next  chapter 
it  is  seen  how  he  excused  his  disciples  in  respect  to  eating 
with  unwashen  hands  and  fasting. 

Then,  as  for  the  authority  of  Augustine  (which  the  doc- 
tors immediately  append),  the  chapter  preceding  this,  near 
the  end,  gives  his  statement.  As  for  the  statement  of  St. 
Jerome,  on  the  explanation  of  faith,  see  Chapter  XVI,  where  is 
set  forth  what  he  had  spoken  to  Pope  Damasus.  But,  after 
having  looked  at  many  old  books,  we  have  found  that  he 
wrote  to  St.  Augustine,  whom  in  his  letters  he  often  calls 
pope— which  Augustine  was  a  true  pope — giving  one  signif- 
icance to  Peter's  seat  and  Peter's  faith,  as  appears  near  the  be- 
ginning of  Chapter  XIII.  As  to  St.  Bernard,  when  he  speaks 
of  the  absolutely  good  and  the  absolutely  evil,  and  things  in- 
termediate. Chapter  XIX  treats  of  that.  And  it  is  added :  "In 
these  things  which  are  intermediate  the  law  of  obedience  is 
placed  as — tanquam— in  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil  which  was  in  the  midst  of  Paradise."  Certainly,  in  these 
things  to  prescribe  our  view  to  the  judgment  of  the  Masters 
is  not  right;  and  in  these  things  neither  the  command  nor 
the  prohibition  of  prelates  is  in  all  cases  to  be  despised. 
Here  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  adverb  of  similitude,  "as" 
[as  it  were] — tanquam — expresses  a  certain  amount  of  like- 
ness, not  full  likeness.  For  in  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil  the  law  was  placed  by  God,  who  can  neither 
deceive  nor  be  deceived.  This  law  was  given  under  pain  of 
mortal  sin.  For  God  said  unto  Adam:  "Of  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it,  for 


244  THE  CHURCH 

in  the  day  thou  eatest  of  it,  thou  shalt  surely  die,"  Gen. 
2  :  i8.  Here,  then,  three  things  are  to  be  thought  of — he 
who  gives  the  word  of  command,  the  command  and  the 
condition  of  the  person  called  upon  to  obey.  He  who  com- 
manded is  God,  who  cannot  err;  the  command  is  exceed- 
ingly useful;  and  man  it  is  who  heard  God  himself  com- 
manding. To  eat,  therefore,  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil  after  the  prohibitive  command  was  given, 
was  an  absolute  evil.  In  accordance  with  this,  let  us  sup- 
pose that  the  prelate  Peter  command  John,  his  inferior,  to 
collect  strawberries  and  let  it  be  thought  that  it  is  not  pos- 
sible for  him  who  commands  to  err  in  this,  and  let  it  be  thought 
of  how  much  value  such  a  work  is  for  the  person  called  upon 
to  obey,  and  also  that  the  man  called  upon  to  obey  is  dis- 
posed to  do  such  a  work,  as  was  Adam  to  do  God's  command, 
and  it  is  evident  that  in  all  these  three,  the  comparison  is  not 
the  same.  For  a  prelate  may  err  and  the  work  commanded 
is  not  "so  useful,  and  the  man  called  upon  to  obey  is  not  so 
disposed  to  do  that  work,  as  was  Adam  to  do  the  command 
of  God, 

Therefore,  Bernard  says  that  a  work  which  is  intermediate 
is  one  which  in  respect  of  mode,  time,  or  person  may  be 
either  good  or  bad;  and  here  that  saint  insists  upon  the  cir- 
cumstances from  the  side  of  him  who  gives  the  command, 
from  the  side  of  the  work,  and  from  the  side  of  him  called 
to  obey.  Therefore,  when  he  says  that  it  is  a  work  which  is 
intermediate  so  far  as  the  mode  goes,  he  urges  a  due  measure 
of  the  exercise  of  reason,  in  such  a  way  that  he  who  com- 
mands does  not  depart  from  the  divine  counsels.  For,  if  a 
prelate  should  command  Peter,  a  subject,  a  learned  priest  in 
God's  law,  to  feed  sows  on  the  Lord's  day  and  God  for  that 
day  should  counsel  him  to  do  for  Him  a  work  of  superero- 
gation incompatible  with  that  act  of  feeding,  then  Peter 
the  priest  is  bound  to  obey  God  who  counsels  rather  than 
the  prelate  who  commands.    This  is  clear,  for  in  this  case  the 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES  245 

superior  is  more  to  be  reverenced,  one  whom  every  subject  is 
more  bound  to  obey;  and  the  enjoined  act  also  is  more  use- 
ful. But  the  act  enjoined  by  the  prelate,  namely  to  feed 
sows  on  the  Lord's  day,  is  in  respect  to  merit  a  thing  indif- 
ferent, but  the  act  enjoined  by  God  has  of  and  in  itself  the 
reason  of  merit. 

Hence,  I  could  wish  that  he  might  reply  to  St.  Bernard 
in  respect  to  this  case.  If  St.  Benedict  had  bid  him  feed 
sows  for  himself  and,  for  the  same  time,  God  had  given  him 
a  counsel  to  give  advice  to  persons  asking  in  the  church  with 
respect  to  the  salvation  of  their  souls,  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  the  authority  of  him  who  counsels  and  the  greater  use- 
fulness of  the  counsel,  as  compared  with  the  commands  of 
St.  Benedict,  would  have  forced  Bernard  to  hearken  rather 
to  the  divine  counsel  than  to  Benedict's  command,  both  to 
the  honor  of  God  and  to  the  salvation  of  those  asking  coun- 
sel. From  this  it  is  seen  to  follow,  that  we  owe  more  to 
any  divine  counsel  whatever  than  to  a  human  command 
which  is  incompatible  with  it.  Secondly,  it  is  seen  to  fol- 
low that  no  one  is  bound  to  obey  a  private  command  except 
in  so  far  as  it  admonishes  in  accordance  with  the  divine  counsel 
or  command;  and  it  is  clear  that,  as  regards  the  mode,  a  due 
measure  of  reason  is  involved  and  also  the  quality  of  the  com- 
mand, both  of  which  he  who  is  called  upon  to  obey  and  he 
who  commands  ought  to  consider.  For  what  reason  would 
there  be  for  the  command  of  a  dull  and  fat  bishop  that  a 
priest  should  feed  sows  and  send  away  Christ's  sheep  without 
pasturing  them — sheep  which  Christ  purchased  with  his  own 
blood? 

Similarly  must  the  circumstance  of  place  be  thought  of, 
for,  if  a  prelate  should  bid  a  subject  to  appear  in  a  place 
where  enemies  are  who  are  planning  the  subject's  death,  the 
subject  is  not  bound  to  obey.  Hence  Pope  Clement  V,  de 
Sent,  et  rejud.  in  Clement.  [Friedberg,  2  :  1152],  says:  ''Who 
would  dare  or  by  what  reason  would  any  one  be  held  bound 


246  THE  CHURCH 

to  dare  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  such  a  consistory — 
namely,  to  place  oneself  in  the  bosom  of  enemies  and  to 
offer  oneself  voluntarily  to  a  death  from  violent  injury  and 
not  by  formal  justice  ?  That,  indeed,  is  to  be  feared  from 
the  side  of  the  law;  that  is  to  be  evaded  as  a  matter  of  morals; 
that  human  sense  and  reason  flee  from;  that  nature  abhors. 
Therefore,  he  would  be  a  fool  who  would  dream  of  such  a 
citation  binding  the  one  cited."  Nor  ought  the  means  of 
defence  to  be  taken  away  which  come  from  the  law  of  nature, 
for  the  emperor  himself  has  no  right  to  withdraw  those  things 
which  are  provided  by  the  law  of  nature. 

Likewise,  Pope  Nicolas  wrote  to  the  emperor  Michael, 
3  :  5  [Friedberg,  i  :  518]:  "That  suspects  and  enemies  ought 
not  to  be  judges,  reason  itself  dictates,  and  it  is  proved  by 
many  examples.  For  what  could  any  one  give  more  ac- 
ceptable and  to  be  desired  to  an  enemy  than  to  commit  a 
person  to  him  to  be  assailed,  who  might  greatly  wish  to 
hurt  him?"  This  thing  also  the  Constantinopolitan  synod. 
Canon  6  [381  A.  D.],  is  known  to  prohibit,  and  in  the  very 
same  chapter  [Friedberg,  i  :  518]  Pope  Gelasius^  a  most 
brave  assailer  of  heretics,  says:  "I  ask  for  the  tribunal  to 
which  they  lay  claim.  Where  can  they  carry  their  cases? 
Before  those  who  are  enemies  and  at  the  same  time  wit- 
nesses and  judges?  But  to  such  a  tribunal  no  human  busi- 
ness should  be  committed.  And  if  to  a  tribunal,  where  ene- 
mies are  the  judges,  no  human  business  should  be  carried, 
how  much  less  ought  cases  of  divine  import,  that  is,  ecclesi- 
astical cases  be  carried!  He  that  is  wise,  let  him  understand. 
And  in  truth,  for  this  reason,  the  good  emperor  Justinian 
is  known  to  have  promulgated  in  his  laws  the  same,  when 
he  said:  'He  who  thinks  a  judge  partial  may,  before  the 
trial  begins,  accuse  him  that  the  case  may  revert  to  another. 
For  it  is  just  as  natural  to  shun  the  assaults  of  judges  as  to 
wish  to  flee  from  the  sentence  of  enemies.'     Thus  St.  John 

'  Mistake  for  Nicolas. 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES  247 

the  Golden-mouthed  refused  to  enter  the  college  of  the 
council  assembled  together  against  him."  These  things  are 
found  at  the  place  [Friedberg,  i  :  519]  where  Gratian  draws 
the  following  conclusion:^  "Outside  the  limits  of  his  province 
no  man  charged  with  guilt  is  under  any  circumstances  to  be 
summoned."  Hence  Pope  Fabian,^  3  :  6  [Friedberg,  i  :  519], 
says:  ''The  case  is  always  tried  there  where  the  offence  oc- 
curred, and  he  who  does  not  prove  his  accusation  should  him- 
self suffer  the  punishment  he  would  inflict."  Likewise  Pope 
Stephen,^  3  :  6  [Friedberg,  i  :  519]:  "No  permission  to  ac- 
cuse shall  be  proceeded  with  outside  of  the  bounds  of  the 
provinces,  but  every  charge  is  to  be  heard  within  the  prov- 
ince." The  same  thing  appears,  3  :  6  [Friedberg,  i  :  523] 
from  the  action  of  the  Roman  synod. 

Therefore,  what  would  be  the  nature  of  such  obedience,  or 
what  reason  would  there  be  for  it,  that  a  person  cited  three 
hundred  miles  away — to  the  pope  unknown,  accused  by  ene- 
mies— should  go  with  such  concern  to  himself  through  enemies 
and  come  to  hostile  judges  and  witnesses  and  consume  ex- 
travagantly the  goods  of  the  poor  or  (not  practising  extrava- 
gance) that  he  should  go,  suffering  with  hunger  and  with 

'  This  quotation  from  the  canon  law  gives  only  a  part  of  the  original  and, 
as  Huss's  text  has  several  mistakes,  I  have  followed  in  the  translation  the 
text  of  the  canon  law.  Gratian's  conclusion,  which  Huss  quotes,  opens  a  new 
section  of  the  canon  law  and  is  preceded  by  another  statement  by  Gratian 
which  it  seems  strange  Huss  did  not  quote  as  it  is  so  apposite  to  what  he  has 
been  saying.  It  runs:  "Although  a  man's  guilt  be  evident,  yet  is  he  not  to 
be  condemned  on  the  accusation  of  an  enemy."  John  the  Golden-mouthed,  to 
whom  Huss  refers,  is  Chrysostom,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  d.  407,  the  great- 
est preacher  of  the  early  church.  The  sjmod  to  which  Huss  refers  was  held 
403  and  is  called  the  s3Tiod  of  the  Oak.  It  was  held  under  the  direction  of 
Theophilus  of  Alexandria,  his  enemy,  and  was  made  up  largely  of  Chrysostom's 
enemies  or  disaffected  members  of  his  clergy.  Chrysostom  refused  to  attend 
unless  his  enemies  were  expelled.  The  court  whom  he  had  offended  by  his 
condemnations  of  extravagance  in  dress,  etc.,  then  deposed  Chrysostom  from 
his  see. 

2  Fabian,  pope,  236-250,  seems  to  have  been  a  vigorous  administrator,  in 
whose  reign  the  schism  of  Hippolytus  was  completely  put  down  and  the  Decian 
persecution  vigorously  resisted  in  Rome. 

'  Stephen  I,  pope,  254-257,  in  the  dispute  with  Cyprian  of  Carthage  over 
the  baptism  by  heretics  took  ground  in  favor  of  its  validity. 


248  THE  CHURCH 

thirst !  And  what  would  be  the  fruit  of  such  an  appear- 
ance? Certainly  the  neglect  of  the  work  enjoined  of  God, 
so  far  as  his  own  salvation  goes  and  the  salvation  of  others. 
Nor  will  he  there  be  taught  how  to  believe  well,  but  how  to 
push  litigation,  which  is  not  permitted  to  a  servant  of  God. 
There  he  will  be  despoiled  in  the  consistory  [curia],  he  will 
grow  cold  in  holy  morals,  he  will  be  stirred  up  through  op- 
pression to  impatience  of  spirit,  and,  if  he  have  nothing  to 
give,  he  will  be  condemned,  even  if  he  have  justice  on  his 
side.  And  what  is  more  serious,  he  will  be  compelled  to 
adore  with  bended  knees  the  pope  as  God.^ 

Blessed,  therefore,  be  God,  who  says:  "I  will  go  down 
and  see  whether  they  have  done  altogether  according  to  the 
cry  which  is  come  unto  me,  and  if  not,  I  will  know,"  Gen. 
i8  :  21.  "Blessed  be  the  Son  of  God,  who  came  down  from 
heaven  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost,"  Luke  19  :  10. 
"And  he  went  about  all  the  cities  and  the  villages,  teaching 
in  their  synagogues,  and  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  king- 
dom, and  healing  all  manner  of  disease  and  all  manner  of 
sickness.  But  when  he  saw  the  multitudes,  he  was  moved 
with  compassion  for  them  because  they  were  distressed  and 
scattered  as  sheep  not  having  a  shepherd,"  Matt.  9  :  35-36. 
Blessed  be  Christ  who  commanded  Peter,  saying:  "If  thy 
brother  sin  against  thee,  show  him  his  fault  between  thee 
and  him  alone,"  Matt.  18  :  15.  Therefore,  the  pope  will 
not  find  any  passages  except  such  as  prove  the  contrary, 

^  Cited  by  Cardinal  Colonna  to  go  to  Rome,  1410,  Huss,  in  his  official  replies, 
his  letters  and  at  the  council  of  Constance,  constantly  gave  as  a  reason  for  not 
complying  the  dangers  from  enemies  by  the  way  or,  as  he  also  expressed  it, 
from  traps  set  by  his  enemies,  especially  the  Germans  whom  he  had  offended 
by  his  course  at  the  university.  Other  reasons  he  gave  were  that  he  would  have 
to  leave  his  work  in  Prague,  and  that  the  place  where  the  offence  was  com- 
mitted, Prague,  was  the  proper  place  for  the  trial.  Wenzel,  in  a  letter  to  the 
cardinal,  suggested  that  he  visit  Prague,  Docnmenta,  p.  424,  and  overlook  the 
situation  with  his  own  eyes.  In  one  place  Huss,  in  urging  the  distance  as  a 
reason  for  not  going  to  Rome,  said  the  distance  from  Prague  to  the  holy  city 
was  as  great  as  the  distance  from  Jerusalem  to  Tiberius,  which,  however,  hap- 
pens to  be  only  sixty  miles. 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES       249 

namely,  that  Christ  answered  in  person  citations  of  this 
kind.  For,  if  popes  would  depend  upon  that  law  of  Christ 
as  stated,  Matt.  7  :  12,  "All  things  whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  unto  you,  even  so  do  ye  also  unto  them; 
for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets,"  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  they  would  not  with  reason  desire  to  cite  men  and 
obHge  them  to  make  such  a  perilous  and  untried  journey. 
Therefore,  why  do  they  urge  others  without  a  patent  and 
reasonable  cause  to  go  to  such  pains  and  labor? 

Oh  that  they  would  think  of  an  exemplary  life  lived  as  set 
forth  according  to  the  authority  of  the  pontiff,  Christ,  who 
piously  went  to  see  the  erring  and  those  oppressed  by  the 
devil,  not  by  citing  them  to  appear,  not  by  excommunicating 
them,  nor  by  imprisoning  them,  or  by  burning  them — and 
who  charged  Peter  and  in  him  every  one  of  his  vicars,  saying: 
''If  thy  brother  sin  against  thee,  go  show  him  his  fault," 
etc.  Here  Peter's  vicar  should  take  note,  first,  that  when 
he  wants  to  show  a  brother  his  fault,  he  ought  to  see  first 
that  he  himself  is  unblamable,  for  love  ought  to  begin  with 
itself.  How,  then,  may  a  prelate,  full  through  and  through 
with  simoniacal  heresy,  pride,  self-indulgence  or  avarice,  law- 
fully show  a  brother  his  faults?  To  him  the  Lord  says: 
''Hypocrite,  first  cast  out  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye  and 
then  shalt  thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thy 
brother's  eye,"  Luke  6  :  42.  Or  how  may  he  condemn  any 
one  to  death,  when  the  Saviour  says:  "He  that  is  without 
sin  among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a  stone  at  her,"  John  8:7. 
In  truth,  if  that  law  of  Christ  be  thought  of,  rarely  would 
a  prelate  be  found  in  these  times  who  could  lawfully  correct 
or  condemn  for  heretical  depravity. 

Secondly,  Christ's  vicar  should  note  how  the  Saviour 
commands,  saying,  "Go,"  for  here  he  commands  that  judges 
ought  in  telling  subjects  of  their  faults  to  visit  the  places 
where  the  offence  is  said  to  have  been  committed,  as  even 
law  proclaims.    For  so  did  Christ  and  all  his  apostles.    And 


250  THE  CHURCH 

so  Christ  will  do  at  the  last  judgment,  as  he  alone  predicts 
in  Matt.  25.  In  the  third  place,  let  Peter's  vicar  or  prelate 
note  how  in  the  way  of  telling  one's  fault,  he  ought  to  be 
prudent,  diligent,  and  intent  that  he  do  not  excommunicate 
before  the  close  of  the  third  rebuke.  Fourthly,  he  should 
note  the  number  of  the  faithful  witnesses  by  whom  the 
brother's  offence  is  to  be  established.  And  fifthly,  he  ought 
to  tell  it  to  the  church,  as  one  greater  than  himself,  for  so 
the  Lord  bade  Peter:   "Tell  it  to  the  church." 

From  the  things  already  said  I  summarize:  that  the 
proposed  excommunication  does  not  concern  me  or  bind  me 
because  hostile  judges  and  witnesses  dwell  in  Rome  and  the 
case  chiefly  is  a  matter  touching  the  judge.  The  distance 
for  me  is  a  long  one  and,  guarded  as  it  is  all  along  the  way 
by  hostile  Germans,  I  do  not  see  any  fruit  of  my  appearance, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  only  neglect  of  the  people  in  the  Word 
of  God.  I  hope  that  Christ  will  guard  me,  as  he  said:  "Be- 
hold, I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves,  be 
ye,  therefore,  wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves.  But 
beware  of  men,  for  they  will  deliver  you  up  to  councils  and 
in  their  synagogues  they  will  scourge  you,"  Matt.  10  :  16,  17. 
He  also  said:  ''Behold,  I  have  told  you  beforehand.  If,  there- 
fore, they  shall  say  unto  you,  behold,  he  is  in  the  wilderness, 
go  not  forth:  behold,  he  is  in  the  inner  chambers,  believe  it 
not,"  Matt.  24  :  25,  26.  Therefore,  I  have  committed  my- 
self to  Christ  alone  that  whether  as  a  result  of  the  false  ex- 
communication of  men,  or,  outside  that,  by  natural  death  or 
through  violence  he  may  bring  my  life  to  a  close. 

Then  in  respect  to  the  circumstance  of  time  [as  bearing 
upon  the  duty  of  obedience],  it  is  not  doubtful  that  it  is 
necessary  for  the  one  who  gives  a  command  as  well  as  for 
the  one  called  upon  to  obey  to  know  when  an  act  good  gener- 
ically,  or  when  a  neutral  act,  ought  to  be  performed.  For,  if 
during  the  paschal  festival  a  prelate  bids  a  subject  fast  or, 
if  he  has  a  healthy  body,  on  Good  Friday  not  to  fast,  would 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES  251 

it  be  lawful  for  a  subject  to  obey  contrary  to  the  custom 
approved  in  the  church  and  contrary  to  the  conscience  of 
this  subject  which  resists,  or,  if  he  should  bid  him  wander 
in  the  middle  of  the  night  through  woods  among  cruel  wild 
beasts  when  there  was  no  necessity  for  it?  And  many  are 
the  commandments  of  this  kind  repugnant  to  reason.  Nor 
should  an  argument  be  made  in  favor  of  obedience,  if  it  were 
any-where  found  in  the  lives  of  the  Fathers,  that  subjects  in 
the  case  of  works  which  are  without  fitness  or  neutral  obeyed, 
even  as  certain  of  the  holy  Fathers  did  obey,  as  Hugo  of  St. 
Victor,  Lihellum  IntUulatum,  speaking  of  these  things  which 
may  not  lawfully  be  done,  said:  ''Just  as  we  read  that  cer- 
tain of  the  holy  Fathers  commanded  subjects  many  things 
foreign  to  human  reason  that  they  might  teach  them  the  vir- 
tue of  obedience,  such  as  watering  dry  parts  until  they  pro- 
duced seeds  or  softening  hard  stones  by  pouring  water  over 
them  and  taming  ferocious  beasts  by  a  word  of  command." 
^  So  far  as  the  circumstance  of  the  person  is  concerned,  it 
is  clear  that  here  reason  ought  to  direct  as  to  a  work  good 
generically  and  also  neutral.  In  a  work  generically  good,  if 
the  prelate  should  command  the  subject  to  give  alms  by 
pauperizing  his  boys,  or  to  take  up  penance  by  fasting  which 
he  is  not  capable  of  enduring,  or  to  make  many  prayers  even 
as  confessors  lay  hard  tasks  upon  men — certainly  in  such 
cases  a  pope  is  not  to  be  hearkened  to,  since  a  parent  is 
more  bound  to  nourish  his  boys  than  to  give  alms  to  others; 
and  he  is  not  bound  to  bear  insufferable  burdens.  The  same 
is  true  in  works  neutral,  for,  if  ever  a  pope  should  command 
me  to  play  on  the  flute,  build  towers,  to  mend  or  weave 
garments,  and  to  stuff  sausages,  ought  not  my  reason  to 
judge  that  the  pope  was  foolish  in  so  commanding?  Why 
should  I  not  prefer  in  this  matter  my  common  sense  to  the 
pope's  sentence?  Yea,  if  with  all  our  doctors  he  should 
command  me  do  these  things,  the  reason  would  judge  that 
the  sentence  of  these  persons  was  foolish.  / 


252  THE  CHURCH 

Likewise,  if  the  pope  of  his  own  motion  should  command 
that  any  one  accept  a  bishopric  who  was  incompetent  on 
account  of  his  inexperience  of  the  language  of  the  people 
he  was  to  rule,  would  he  have  to  obey  by  accepting?  It 
is  evident  he  would  not.  Similarly,  it  is  evident  that  the 
people  would  not  have  to  accept  him  just  as  they  would 
not  want  the  pope  to  put  over  them  a  shepherd  of  sows  or 
goats — a  pastor  who  would  be  of  no  account  to  feed  those 
flocks. 

And  it  is  clear,  that  Christ's  faithful  disciple  ought  to 
look  back  to  the  first  exemplar,  Christ  himself,  and  listen 
to  a  prelate  as  far  as  he  teaches  Christ's  law,  things  reason- 
able, things  to  edification,  and  things  lawful  for  the  subject, 
for  Cyprian,  God's  glorious  martyr,  says:  Decretum,  Dist.  8 
[Friedberg,  i  :  15]:  "If  Christ  alone  is  to  be  hearkened  to, 
then  we  ought  not  to  listen  to  what  any  one  before  us  may 
have  thought  ought  to  be  done,  but  what  Christ,  who  is  be- 
fore all,  did."  This  soundest  of  rules  antichrist's  satraps 
lay  aside,  who  say  that  disobedience  to  papal  statutes  is  to 
be  punished  most  severely,  and  so  Christ  with  his  law  is 
put  aside.  Hence,  it  being  laid  down  that  obedience  is  due 
to  the  pope  and  prelates  in  all  things  neutral,  the  pope,  in 
treating  the  law  of  Christ  as  difficult  to  understand,  may  de- 
cree that  no  Christian  should  do  any  work  that  is  neutral, 
except  such  works  as  he  himself  approves  and  ratifies,  and 
consequently  he  may  ordain  that  his  satraps  cite  any  per- 
sons whatsoever  to  appear  and  answer  at  his  tribunal;  and 
so  they  are  able  to  worry  the  people  out  till  they  make  a 
promise,  and  mulct  the  people  as  they  do  in  absolutions,  in 
reservations  and  in  dispensations. 

And,  as  is  believed,  they  would  practise  this  more  abun- 
dantly if  they  did  not  fear  that  the  people,  perceiving  their 
subtilty,  would  rebel.  For  now  God  is  enlightening  the 
people  that  they  be  not  beguiled  from  Christ's  paths.  For 
Daniel  prophesied,  saying:    "And  arms  [forces]  shall  stand 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES  253 

on  his  part;  and  they  shall  profane  the  sanctuary  and  they 
shall  set  up  the  abomination  that  maketh  for  desolation,  and 
such  as  do  wickedly  against  the  covenant  shall  he  pervert 
by  flatteries,  but  the  people  that  know  their  God  shall  be 
strong  and  do  exploits,"  Daniel  11  :  31-32.  Antichrist's 
"arms  which  stand  and  profane  God's  sanctuary"  are  wicked 
prelates  who  are  an  abomination  on  account  of  their  villainies, 
and  they  are  the  "desolation"  by  refusing  to  imitate  Christ. 
Of  this  abomination  Christ  says,  "when  ye  see  the  abomina- 
tion of  desolation  standing  in  the  holy  place  which  was  spoken 
of  by  Daniel  the  prophet,"  Matt.  24  :  15,  and,  "standing 
where  he  ought  not,"  Mark  13  :  14.  And  when  the  prophet 
adds,  "and  such  as  do  wickedly  against  the  covenant,"  for 
they  say  they  keep  Christ's  covenant,  but  will  not  keep  it, 
because  they  obscure  and  gloss  it  for  their  own  exaltation 
and  to  excuse  their  sin,  "but  the  people  that  know  their 
God,"  that  is,  know  by  the  gift  of  God's  grace,  will  obtain 
Christ  by  imitation  of  him  and  will  do  the  commandments 
of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  because  to 
those  that  teach  these  things  persecution  comes  unto  death, 
therefore  Daniel  further  says:  "And  they  that  are  wise 
among  the  people  shall  instruct  many  and  shall  fall  by  the 
sword  and  in  the  flames  and  in  the  captivity  and  by  the 
fall  of  days.  And  when  these  shall  fall,  they  shall  be  lifted 
up  by  the  help  of  the  little  ones  and  many  shall  join  them- 
selves unto  them  with  flatteries,"  Dan.  11  :  33-34. 

The  experience  of  the  facts  enables  us  to  understand  this 
text,  for  simple  laymen  and  priests,  taught  by  God's  grace, 
teach  very  many  by  the  example  of  a  good  life  and,  gainsay- 
ing pubhcly  antichrist's  lying  words,  perish  with  the  sword. 
This  is  seen  in  the  cases  of  the  laymen,  John,  Martin,  and 
Stafcon,^  who  resisted  antichrist's  lying  disciples,  and  per- 

1  In  the  troubles  arising  in  Prague  out  of  the  proclamation  of  John  XXIII's 
bulls  against  Ladislaus  and  the  sale  of  pardons  these  three  men  offered  violent 
resistance  and  were  arrested  and  imprisoned.  As  they  were  about  to  be  executed, 
Huss,  in  company  with  others,  appeared  at  the  city  hall,  appealed  in  their  behalf 


254  THE  CHURCH 

ished  together  by  the  sword.  And  others,  exposing  their 
necks  for  the  truth  have  been  martyred,  being  seized,  im- 
prisoned, and  murdered  and  yet  did  not  deny  Christ's  truth 
— priests,  and  also  laymen  and  women.  But  those  who  have 
oppressed  them  have  gone  away  clandestinely  for,  terrified 
by  antichrist's  censures  and  seizures,  they  have  turned  into 
the  opposite  way.  But  God,  up  to  this  time,  multiplies 
the  sons  of  his  church  who  suffer  and  are  patient  and  pub- 
lish the  truth  of  Christ's  law.  Therefore,  blessed  be  God 
and  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  who  has  hidden  the 
way  of  truth  from  the  wise  and  prudent  and  revealed  it  unto 
simple  laymen  and  Uttle  priests  who  choose  rather  to  obey 
God  than  men,  who  in  acts  generically  good  and  acts  neu- 
tral have  the  life  of  Christ  before  their  eyes  and  obey  prel- 
ates so  far  as  these  acts,  modified  by  circumstances,  can  be 
reasonably  put  into  practice  for  edification  through  the  imi- 
tation of  Christ.  For  they  themselves  hold  that  an  act,  in 
order  to  be  virtuous,  must  be  justified  by  eight  circumstances, 
which  are  set  forth  in  this  fine: 

Who,  what,  where,  how  much,  how  many,  why,  in  what 
manner,  when. 

Who,  thai  is,  the  individual  who  ought  to  obey.  What, 
namely,  he  ought  to  do  when  he  is  commanded.  Where,  be- 
cause in  one  place  it  is  fitting,  in  the  case  of  an  act  good 
generically  or  neutral  to  obey,  and  not  so  in  another  place 
or  in  any  place  whatsoever.  How  much,  namely,  he  ought 
to  obey,  in  as  far  as  the  command  is  of  something  applicable 
to  edification  according  to  the  counsel  of  Jesus  Christ  or  his 
command.  For  one  is  not  bound  to  obey  forever  his  per- 
sonal superior  as  the  foolish  prate,  saying,  that  the  pope's 

and  secured,  as  he  thought,  their  immunity  from  death.  But  after  he  was 
once  out  of  sight,  the  men  were  taken  from  prison  and  quickly  beheaded.  A 
great  crowd  coming  together  gathered  up  the  bodies  and  carried  them  amidst 
the  singing  of  sacred  hymns  to  Bethlehem  chapel,  where  they  were  buried  and 
looked  upon  as  martyrs.  In  one  of  his  sermons,  Langsdorfif,  p.  i6,  Huss  refers 
to  the  death  of  these  three  men  as  a  price  for  denying  that  the  pope  is  the  God 
of  this  world  and  can  forgive  sins  as  he  will,  and  to  their  burial  in  Bethlehem. 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES  255 

authority  extends  to  the  right  of  infinite  commanding,  and 
whom  individual  Christians  ought  to  obey  even  to  that  ex- 
tent. How  many,  namely,  acts  he  may  lawfully  do,  since 
it  matters  not  whether  the  subject,  following  the  command 
of  a  priest  binding  him  to  penance,  gives  two  pennies  or  two 
denarii  or  fasts  three  days  weekly;  and  that  he  give  as  many 
pennies  or  fast  as  many  days  as  the  simple  fellow  commands 
or  limits  (unless  he  fill  his  confessor's  purse),  or  that  he 
give  as  much  for  the  building  of  St.  Peter  as  he  would 
offer  if  he  Hved  there  and  as  much  by  the  estimate  of  the 
pope's  camera  as  he  might  consume  on  the  journey  thither; 
and  so  of  other  taxations  invented  of  the  devil.  The  faith- 
ful ought  also  to  think  of  the  circumstance  of  the  end  in 
view,  namely :  why,  that  is,  with  what  end  in  view  he  ought 
to  obey  by  the  act  which  is  enjoined,  because,  if  it  leads 
to  God's  honor  and  directly  to  the  profit  of  the  church, 
then  it  is  a  good  end.  But  if  another  end  is  held  forth,  then 
it  is  against  the  apostle's  words:  "Whatsoever  ye  do,  do  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ."  For  the  end  determines  all  the 
means — media — which  are  used  with  that  end  in  view.  Hence, 
Aristotle  concludes,  de  Anima,  2,  with  these  words:  "It  is 
right  that  aU  things  should  be  called  good  by  the  end,  so 
that  when  the  end  is  good,  the  means  for  that  end  are  also 
good."  And  another  circumstance  is  also  added,  when  it  is 
said:  how.  For  it  is  not  enough  to  do  a  thing  that  is  good 
generically,  but  it  is  demanded  that  it  be  done  well,  for  noth- 
ing can  be  done  well  by  a  man  except  as  he  abides  in  love. 
Therefore,  the  apostle  says:  "Let  all  your  things  be  done 
in  love."  And  that  nothing  is  well  done  by  a  man  without 
love,  the  apostle  proves  when  he  says:  "Though  I  bestow  all 
my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  have  not  love,  it  profiteth 
me  nothing,"  I  Cor.  13  :  3.  And  this  is  reasonable  because 
the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit,  except  it  abide  in  the  vine,  as 
the  Saviour  said:  "Ye  cannot  bear  fruit,  except  ye  abide  in 
me,"  that  is,  by  love,  John  15:4.    Hence  it  is  said  in  a  gen- 


2s6  THE   CHURCH 

eral  way  that  a  certain  philosopher,  by  name  Phantasma — 
Illusion — advanced  that  God  is  the  rewarder  not  of  nouns 
but  adverbs  [not  names,  but  qualities],  and  it  is  clear  that 
for  obedience  to  be  true,  grace  or  love   is   needed.     Then 
other  circumstances  are  involved  in  this  adverb,  how,  be- 
cause one  that  is  called  upon  to  obey  ought  to  perform  the 
work  commanded  out  of  love,  in  humility,  wisely,  joyfully, 
bravely,  and  promptly.    The  last  condition  is  when — namely, 
it  is  fitting  to  perform  the  work  commanded,  as  has  been 
said  before,  with  respect  to  time,  for  without  doubt  there 
are  many  acts  good  generically  and  also  acts  neutral,  which 
it  is  not  expedient  to  command  at  any  time  whatever,  and 
consequently  it  is  not  expedient  to  yield  obedience  to  them 
at  any  time. 
/       However,  as  for  this  [namely,  that  the  inferior  obey  the 
superior  in  all  things],  it  is  argued  up  to  this  point  thus: 
Suppose  that  the  pope  should,  by  the  bond  of  holy  obedience 
and  upon  the  assurance  of  obtaining  absolution  from  penalty 
and  guilt  or  some  other  spiritual  benefit,  bind  every  cleric 
subject  to  him  to  resist  the  first  pope  obedient  in  all  things, 
and  that  he  should  bind  every  laic  by  a  similar  formula  to 
resist  the  first  disobedient  pope  and  let  the  injunction  be 
made  under  the  severest  of  anathemas — and  suppose  in  ad- 
dition that  every  cleric  or  laic  subject  to  our  pope  was  first 
obedient  to  him  and  that  every  cleric   resisted  every  laic 
and  vice  versa.     Here   the  contradiction  would   be  mam'- 
fest  because  it  is  allowed  that  Peter  the  cleric  and  Paul  the 
laic  were  not  at  first  in  opposition,  resisting  one  another,  and 
I  ask  whether  Peter  being  for  the  moment  obedient  is  re- 
sisting the  pope.     If  so,  then  we  must  say  that  for  that  mo- 
ment Paul  was  disobedient  to  the  pope  because,  inasmuch 
as  he  resists  Peter  who  is  disobedient  to  the  pope  in  all  things, 
and  it  was  enjoined  that  he  should  resist  the  first  disobe- 
dient pope,  it  follows  that  Paul  incurs  the  mark  of  disobe- 
dience, and  so  also  Peter  for  the  moment  being  disobedient 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES       257 

would  be  resisting  the  pope.  Then  we  should  grant  that 
Paul  is  obedient  and  Peter  also,  because  before  they  resisted 
one  another  they  were  both  obedient,  and  Peter  by  resisting, 
was  not  disobedient  but,  as  follows  from  what  has  been  said, 
his  obedience  is  confirmed.  And  it  is  not  vaHd  to  deny  the 
pertinency  of  this  case  on  account  of  the  following  things, 
namely,  (i)  because  only  what  was  neutral  or  possible  was 
commanded  and  (2)  because  a  prelate  may  command  what 
in  itself  is  impossible  and  altogether  unreasonable,  therefore, 
he  may  command  that  thing,  and  so  there  remains  no  reply 
except  the  truth  that  neither  more  nor  less  on  account  of 
his  commanding  do  the  cleric  and  the  layman  incur  reward 
or  penalty.  For  a  command  must  be  reasonable  with  God 
if  it  is  to  be  obeyed.  And  then  it  would  hold  good,  pro- 
vided no  one  under  human  authority  would  make  that 
command,  since  otherwise  a  man  would  become  disobedient 
to  reason.  And  it  is  clear  that,  as  in  the  case  supposed, 
there  would  be  no  possibility  left  of  looking  for  remission 
or  anathema,  so  in  a  general  way  there  would  not  be  in 
the  case  of  a  papal  sentence  except  so  far  as  one  merited 
them  in  accordance  with  God's  will.  This  logical  objection 
must  be  solved.  And  similarly  suppose,  that  Peter  the  prior 
had  a  second  Twelve  made  up  of  conventuals  all  obedient 
to  him,  and  he  should  bid  the  more  stable  Twelve  not  to 
speak  with  the  other  unless  perchance  by  being  disobedient 
it  might  bring  the  other  to  obedience.  And  it  is  clear  that 
the  second  Twelve  did  not  talk  with  the  rest  except,  by 
obeying  Peter,  to  bring  the  other  to  obedience,  and  Paul  of 
the  former  Twelve  should  speak  with  Linus  of  the  latter 
Twelve  both  of  them  excelling  in  this  that  they  have  regard 
to  the  injunction  of  obedience,  so  that,  before  the  talking 
occurred,  both  were  lawfully  obedient  to  Peter;  and  the 
contradiction  will  appear.^    / 

'  This  is  the  most  diflScult  passage  in  Huss's  treatise.    Wych"f ,  though  not 
using  the  exact  form  above,  so  far  as  I  know,  uses  the  general  method  to  prove 


258  THE   CHURCH 

Likewise  as  Bernard  in  his  letter  to  the  monk  Adam  says 
that  things  which  are  intermediate — may  equally  well  or 
equally  badly  be  either  commanded  or  prohibited.  Therefore, 
when  a  superior  commands  or  forbids  wrongly,  and  when  the 
subject  knows  that  he  has  commanded  or  forbidden  wrongly, 
he  ought  by  the  law  of  love  to  tell  the  subject  his  fault  as  a 
brother  because  when  in  so  commanding  or  forbidding  he  sins 
against  God  and  his  brother.  This  appears  by  that  rule  of 
Christ:  "If  thy  brother  sin  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his 
fault  between  thee  and  him  alone,"  Matt.  i8  :  15.  Nor  is 
there  any  objection  to  this  that  he  who  is  superior  in  virtue 
should  tell  one  inferior  in  his  living  his  fault,  howbeit  the  latter 
be  the  superior  in  rank,  for  otherwise  this  law  of  Christ  would 
perish,  which  ordains  that  every  Christian  prelate,  when  he  has 
sinned,  should  be  corrected  by  another.  For  the  law  speaks  to 
all  men  alike  when  it  says:  "If  thy  brother  sin  against  thee, 
go  and  tell  him  his  fault."  But  if,  to  make  an  impossible 
supposition,  Christ  had  sinned,  he  would  inasmuch  as  he 
was  our  brother,  Heb.  2  :  17-19,  have  had  to  be  corrected 
by  the  church.  Hence  he  indicated  this,  when  he  said  to 
the  multitudes:  "Which  of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?" 
John  8  :  46. 

For  this  reason  the  church  in  the  person  of  our  Saviour 
aptly  sings:  "0  my  people,  what  have  I  done  to  thee?  or 
how  have  I  comforted  thee?  Answer  me," — namely,  by  a 
reproach.  And  Isaiah,  1:17,  says:  "Cease  to  do  evil,  learn  to 
do  well.  Seek  justice,  relieve  the  oppressed,  judge  the  father- 
less, plead  for  the  widow,  and  come  and  let  us  reason  to- 
gether, saith  the  Lord."  Therefore,  it  is  clear  that  every  way- 
faring man  ought  to  have  his  faults  told  him  by  his  brother, 
for  otherwise  the  law  of  Christ  would  be  wanting  in  provid- 

an  utter  inconsistency,  as  in  his  de  Eccles.,  p.  211.  The  imaginary  characters, 
Peter,  Paul,  and  Linus,  are  used  somewhat  in  the  same  way  as  Richard  Roe 
and  John  Doe.  Linus  is  brought  in  as  a  judge,  being  chosen  because  he 
belonged  to  the  second  generation  of  presbyters  or  bishops.  See  Wyclif,  de 
domin.  civ.,  pp.  38,  39,  for  a  similar  use  of  Peter,  Paul,  and  Linus  to  prove  the 
inconsistency  of  making  natural  dominion,  as  opposed  to  civil  dominion,  ex- 
empt from  spiritual  laws. 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES  259 

ing  a  remedy  against  the  spots  of  his  bride,  and  Paul  con- 
tradicts the  idea  that  it  is  wanting,  Gal.  5,  for  he  resisted 
Peter,  the  pope,  to  his  face  for  a  light  offence  and  also  in  his 
writing  left  for  those  who  were  to  come  after,  that  in  cases 
of  like  falling  away  they  should  do  the  same  to  their  brother. 
Therefore,  it  is  faithless  to  assert  that  the  higher  rank  may 
not  have  its  fault  told  it  in  matters  moral  by  an  inferior. 
Wherefore,  in  case  of  a  fault,  a  son  may  lawfully  tell  his 
father  his  fault,  a  daughter  the  mother,  a  subject  the  prel- 
ate, a  disciple  his  teacher — all  following  the  rule  of  love. 

However,  against  these  things  the  objection  is  made  that 
the  pope  has  the  place  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  on  earth. 
But  it  is  not  permitted  any  one  to  tell  him  his  fault,  as  ap- 
pears from  Matt.  16.  When,  on  account  of  Christ's  rebuke, 
Peter  is  called  Satan,  is  it  not,  therefore,  permitted  to  find 
fault  with  him  that  occupies  Peter's  stead?  But  this  kind 
of  reasoning  includes  too  much,  for  it  would  necessitate  say- 
ing that  every  vicar  of  Christ  is  impeccable,  just  as  Chi  1st 
is  impeccable.  But  it  is  a  good  inference  that  neither  pope 
nor  other  person  ought  to  be  found  fault  with  or  corrected 
in  so  far  as  they  follow  the  Head,  Christ.  But,  if  a  bishop 
or  confessor  occupying  Christ's  stead  attempt  an  act  of  self- 
indulgence  with  a  virgin  or  a  chaste  wife,  ought  he  not  to 
be  vehemently  found  fault  with  as  if  he  were  antichrist 
and  the  faithless  enemy  of  his  own  soul?  For  in  committing 
such  an  illicit  act,  he  does  not  occupy  Christ's  stead,  but  the 
place  of  antichrist  himself  and  the  devil,  tempting  a  woman 
most  iniquitously.  And  it  is  clear,  that  that  statement  of 
St.  Bernard  which  the  doctors  adduce,  namely,  that  in  those 
things,  that  is,  '  things  intermediate,  it  is  certainly  not  right  to 
prefer  our  view  to  the  sentence  of  the  masters,  and  in  these 
neither  the  command  nor  the  prohibition  of  prelates  are  alto- 
gether to  be  spurned ' — the  circumstances  must  be  understood 
fitted  to  the  act  of  obedience  which  is  owed  in  respect  to 
the  mode,  place,  time  and  person,  as  has  been  said.  For  often 
the  student  with  reason  refuses  to  obey  in  an  act  intermediate 


26o  THE  CHURCH 

or  neutral  or  even  in  an  act  good  generically,  showing  the 
reason  why  it  is  not  expedient  in  such  a  case  to  obey.  This 
has  frequently  happened  to  me,  when  I  have  commanded; 
and  being  taught  better  and  even  taking  gratefully  infor- 
mation, I  have  obeyed  the  student.  And  the  same  reason- 
ing holds  in  respect  to  a  prelate,  for  in  our  times  prelates 
often  talk  wildly  in  their  commands  because  of  ignorance, 
and  are  to  be  reasoned  with  in  love,  by  their  subjects,  for  the 
well-being  of  the  church. 

But  it  is  objected  to  this  that  an  equal  has  no  rule  over 
an  equal.  Since,  therefore,  the  pope  excels  every  other  pil- 
grim and  every  superior  his  subject,  it  seems  that  it  is  not 
the  business  of  any  pilgrim  to  correct  the  pope  or  any  sub- 
ject his  prelate.  This  means  that,  if  the  antecedent  be 
denied,  since  necessarily  God  the  Father  has  no  rule  over 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  yet  they  are  equal  persons,  the  con- 
sequence does  not  follow,  namely,  that  of  necessity  God  the 
Father  has  rule  over  the  Son,  according  to  the  humanity 
he  assumed  and  yet  necessarily  they  are  absolutely  equal. 
Therefore,  if  no  equal  has  rule  over  an  equal,  the  catholic 
faith  is  gainsaid.  And  again:  as  is  the  rule  of  a  vicar, 
so  also  of  the  same  kind  is  all  human  rule,  as  the  apos- 
tle says:  "Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  this  present  world 
that  they  be  not  high-minded,"  I  Tim.  6.  But  such  rule 
is  either  independent,  derived  from  itself,  or  it  is  originally 
authorized  over  some  creature,  and  so  it  is  clear  how  bare 
this  mode  of  reasoning  is  both  as  to  its  substance  and  form, 
for  he  understands  by  this  principle  that  an  equal  has  no 
authoritative  rule  over  his  equal,  on  the  ground  by  which 
he  is  equal  to  one  who  rules  in  such  a  way.  But  what 
stands  in  the  way  of  one  who  excels  in  virtue  telHng  to  one 
inferior  in  his  living  his  fault,  howbeit  the  latter  be  the  su- 
perior in  rank  ? 

Besides,  the  objection  is  raised  from  the  canon  law, 
Dist.  21,  Nunc  autem  [Friedberg,  i  :  71],  where  it  is  declared 


OBEDIENCE  TO  PRELATES  261 

that  no  one  of  the  holy  bishops  dared  to  bring  a  judgment 
against  Pope  Marcellinus,  but  they  said:  "By  thine  own 
mouth  judge  thy  case.  Thou  shalt  not  subject  thyself  to 
our  decision."  That  is  to  say,  that  this  saying  of  the  bishops 
is  not  sufficient  to  nulHfy  God's  law  according  to  which 
in  the  case  of  Paul  he  reproved  Peter  the  pope.  Secondly, 
it  means  that  it  would  be  most  superfluous  for  them  to  re- 
prove him  in  such  a  case,  who  observed  from  his  contri- 
tion that  he  was  fully  reproved  of  the  Lord.  Thirdly,  it 
means  that  he  was  sufficiently  reproved  by  them  when  they 
said,  "by  thine  own  mouth  judge  thy  case,  thou  shalt  not  be 
subject  to  our  decision."  And  still  again,  it  means,  Be  not 
heard  at  our  tribunal  but  gather  up  thy  case  in  thy  own 
bosom  and  once  more  thou  wilt  be  declared  righteous  of  thy- 
self, they  say,  or  be  condemned  out  of  thine  own  mouth. 
Certainly  that  was  a  great  act  of  reproving,  because  those 
who  reproved  cast  the  duty  of  reproving  back  on  the  pope 
himself.  Hence  Marcellinus,  when  he  heard  these  things,  de- 
clared the  sentence  of  deposition  against  himself.^ 

Thus  it  is  clear  that  a  subject  following  the  rule  of  pru- 
dence and  of  love  may  correct  an  erring  superior  and  lead  him 
back  to  the  way  of  truth.  For,  if  a  superior  should  wander 
away  and  come  into  a  cave  of  thieves  or  into  the  danger  of 
death,  it  would  be  proper  for  the  subject  to  draw  him  back 
and  to  preserve  him  from  danger.  Therefore,  this  is  the  more 
allowable  when  a  superior  by  a  devious  path  of  living  runs 
into  the  cave  of  demons  and  into  the  peril  of  the  worst  death 
of  sins.     If,  therefore,  in  the  first  case,  the  superior  would 

*  Marcellinus,  whom  Jerome  [Migne,  27  :  iiii]  puts  among  the  popes, 
probably  of  the  time  of  Diocletian,  is  reported  to  have  fallen  away  in  time 
of  persecution  and  sacrificed  to  the  gods.  He  acknowledged  his  mistake  in 
the  presence  of  a  synod  of  bishops  who  refused  to  sit  in  judgment  on  him  on 
the  ground  that  prima  sedes  a  nemine  judicatnr — the  primal  see  is  judged 
by  no  one.  This  was  the  theory  asserted  by  the  mediaeval  popes.  They  were 
subject  to  no  tribunal  but  God.  Higden,  5  :  104-108,  reported  the  tradition 
that  Marcellinus  deposed  himself  and  anathematized  any  one  that  should  bury 
his  body. 


262  THE  CHURCH 

rejoice,  why  not  much  more  in  the  second?    If  he  employs 
a  guardian  in  the  first  case,  why  not  in  the  second  ? 

Nor  is  there  anything  to  conflict  in  that  saying  of  St. 
Augustine,  de  confliclu  virtutum  et  vitiorum  [Migne,  40  :  1094]:  ^ 
*'What  sort  of  men  they  ought  to  be  who  rule  is  not  a  ques- 
tion to  be  discussed  by  subjects."  This  is  true  and  evident, 
that  they  ought  not  to  discuss  rashly  what  sort  of  men  they 
ought  to  be,  nevertheless,  reason  dictates  to  them  that  they 
who  rule  ought  to  be  good,  that  they  ought  not  to  live  in 
excess  and,  if  they  Hve  badly,  subjects  ought  to  take  heed 
and  to  beware  of  their  evil  works  in  advance.  Hence  Au- 
gustine says:  "If  human  rule  is  to  be  obeyed,  it  is  necessary 
that  we  be  subject  to  divine  government,^  for  Christ  himself 
says,  'He  who  heareth  you,  heareth  me,  and  he  that  despis- 
eth  you,  despiseth  me.'"  And,  further  on,  Augustine  adds: 
''Nevertheless,  because  he  foresees  that  not  all  will  in  the 
future  be  of  this  kind,  he  took  all  kinds  of  subjects  into  the 
company  of  his  disciples  and  said,  admonishing  them  in  ad- 
vance, 'The  scribes  and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat;  what- 
soever things  they  say  to  you,  these  do,  but  what  they  do, 
do  not  ye.' "  And  it  is  clear  that,  with  the  zeal  of  a  good  pur- 
pose, subjects  should  discuss  the  manner  of  life  of  their  su- 
periors or  think  of  it,  so  that,  if  the  superiors  are  good,  the 
subjects  may  imitate  them;  if  evil,  they  follow  not  their  works, 
but  in  an  humble  spirit  pray  for  them  and  take  heed  when 
they  command  good  things.  Otherwise,  unless  they  discuss, 
they  will  fall  with  the  blind  leader  into  the  hole,  and  easily 
it  may  happen  that  they  will  worship  antichrist  as  God, 
and,  like  the  Jewish  people  who  followed  their  leaders — 
prcdatis — conspire  against  Christ  the  Lord. 

^  The  treatise  was  falsely  ascribed  to  Augustine. 

*  Huss's  text  must  be  wrong  or  Huss  is  drawing  an  inference  in  his  own 
language.  The  original  treatise  has  si  oblemperandum  Domini  est  iniperio  hu- 
mano  siibdi  necesse  est  magisterio.  If  the  Lord's  rule  is  to  be  obeyed,  subjec- 
tion to  human  government  is  necessary.     Romans  13  :  1-2  is  quoted. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
EXCOMMUNICATIONS,  JUST  AND   UNJUST 

Finally,  the  doctors  lay  down  in  their  writing  the  follow- 
ing: "At  length,  because  the  processes  [court  proceedings  be- 
fore the  curia  and  the  archbishop  of  Prague]  against  Master 
John  Huss  have  been  received  by  the  body  of  the  clergy  in 
Prague,  and  they  have  obeyed  them,  therefore  these  processes 
are  to  be  obeyed,  and  especially  since  therein  nothing  abso- 
lutely good  is  prohibited  nor  is  anything  absolutely  evil  en- 
joined.^ But  according  to  the  method  of  the  church  customary 
with  the  Roman  curia  and  observed  before  the  fathers  of  our 
fathers,  only  things  intermediate — things  between  what  is 
purely  good  and  purely  evil — are  there  commanded,  which  in 
respect  to  time,  place,  or  mode  may  be  either  good  or  bad — 
and  obedience  is  to  be  rendered  in  these  things  intermediate 
in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  the  Gospel  and  in  accord- 
ance with  St.  Bernard."  And  they  add:  "And  it  is  not  the 
business  of  the  clergy  in  Prague  to  pronounce  judgment  on  the 
question  whether  the  excommunication  of  Master  John  Huss 
is  just  or  unjust."  etc. 

I  will  proceed  to  the  things  in  the  processes  [court  pro- 
ceedings] about  which  for  the  present  I  chiefly  consider  three 
matters,  namely,  excommunication,  suspension  and  interdict. 
And  about  these  I  will  speak  briefly,  discussing  first  of  all 
this,  that  the  conclusion  which  the  doctors  draw  is  exceed- 
ingly bad,  namely,  "because  the  processes  against  John  Huss 

^  The  duty  of  resisting  unjust  excommunications  Huss  takes  up  in  his  adv. 
Indulg.,  Mon.,  i  :  229-234;  de  sex  Erroribus,  239  sqq.;  ad  octo  Doctores,  383 
sqq.,  etc. 

263 


264  THE  CHURCH 

have  been  received  by  the  body  of  the  clergy  in  Prague,  and 
they  have  obeyed  them,  therefore,  they  ought  to  be  obeyed." 
It  is  as  if  we  should  argue  in  this  way:  because  processes 
were  received  by  the  body  of  the  clergy  in  Jerusalem  against 
Christ,  that  he  is  a  seducer,  malefactor,  and  blasphemer 
excommunicate  and  guilty  of  death,  therefore,  those  proc- 
esses are  to  be  obeyed  by  the  doctors  themselves.  The  con- 
clusion from  the  law  of  similarity  holds  by  that  middle  term 
of  cause,  "because  the  processes  were  received  by  the  clergy" 
— and  the  doctors  of  theology  ought  to  be  ashamed  for 
that  conclusion,  and  especially  Stanislaus,  for  he  is  the  ablest 
logician  amongst  them.  Perhaps  they  learned  that  conclu- 
sion from  the  chief  priests,  scribes,  and  Pharisees  who  for- 
mulated a  like  conclusion.  For  when  Pilate  said  unto  them, 
"What  accusation  bring  ye  against  this  man?"  they  answered 
and  said  (formulating  this  conclusion):  "If  this  man  were 
not  an  evil-doer  we  would  not  have  delivered  him  up  to 
thee,"  John  i8  :  29-30.  And  again  they  followed  the  same 
line  of  argument  when  Pilate  said,  "I  find  no  case  against 
him,"  when  they  replied,  "We  have  a  law  and  according  to 
that  law  he  ought  to  die,  because  he  made  himself  the  Son 
of  God,"  John  19  :  7.  In  the  first  conclusion,  formulated  by 
the  Jews,  the  doctors  implied  that  they  themselves  did  not 
err  when  they  said:  "If  this  one  were  not  an  evil-doer,  we 
would  not  have  delivered  him  up  to  thee" — that  is,  because 
he  is  an  evil-doer,  therefore  have  we  delivered  him  up  to 
thee.  Similarly  our  doctors  reply  in  the  conclusion  they 
formulate  that  the  body  of  the  clergy  in  Prague  cannot  err; 
otherwise,  if  they  were  able  to  err,  their  conclusion  would 
not  be  valid.  And  because  that  body  is  able  to  err  in  ac- 
cepting the  processes,  so  also  it  does  err  in  securing  them 
and  wickedly  executing  them.  Therefore,  the  conclusion  of 
the  doctors  is  not  a  good  one. 

And  I  wonder  how  this  enormous  conclusion — cauda — of 
the  doctors,  by  which  they  wish  to  cover  up  their  shame  by 


EXCOMMUNICATIONS,  JUST  AND  UNJUST    265 

the  statement :  processes  to  the  contrary  import,  if  received, 
would  have  to  be  obeyed — does  not  contradict  this,  when 
the  conclusion  is  added:  *'Nor  is  it  the  business  of  the  clergy 
in  Prague  to  pronounce  sentence  whether  the  excommunica- 
tion of  Master  John  Huss  is  just  or  unjust."  For  if  those 
processes  are  to  be  obeyed  with  respect  to  excommunication, 
then  they  are  to  be  obeyed  by  them  as  just  and  not  as  un- 
just. Because  the  clergy  together  with  the  doctors  obeys 
them  and  received  them,  therefore  it  obeys  them  as  just 
and  received  them  as  just,  and  consequently  the  doctors  to- 
gether with  the  clergy  passed  upon  them  sentence  that  they 
are  just.  Nevertheless,  their  conclusion  says  that  it  is  not 
for  the  clergy  in  Prague  to  pass  sentence  whether  the  ex- 
communication of  Master  John  Huss  is  just  or  unjust.  And 
an  evident  contradiction  is  established,  namely,  the  clergy 
in  Prague  cries  out,  affirms  and  asserts  that  the  excommuni- 
cation of  Master  John  Huss  is  just,  therefore  the  clergy  in 
Prague  passes  the  sentence  that  that  excommunication  is 
just;  yet  the  conclusion  of  the  doctors  says  that  it  is  not 
for  the  clergy  in  Prague  to  pass  sentence  whether  that  judg- 
ment of  excommunication  is  just  or  unjust.  It  is  most  clear 
that  this  conclusion  contradicts  the  facts  and  the  sentence 
of  the  clergy  of  Prague. 

Likewise,  if  it  is  not  for  the  clergy  in  Prague  to  pass 
sentence  whether  that  excommunication  is  just  or  unjust, 
and  the  clergy  approves  the  processes  and  acts  in  accordance 
with  the  processes;  therefore  the  clergy  in  Prague  does  not 
know  whether  it  is  acting  justly  or  unjustly,  nor  does  it  hope 
that  it  is  acting  justly.  For  hope  ought  to  go  before  the 
sentence. 

Likewise,  these  doctors  themselves  pass  the  sentence  that 
the  excommunication  of  Master  John  Huss  is  just,  and  this  is 
clear  because  they  pass  the  sentence  that  the  processes  are  to 
be  obeyed,  and  not  as  though  they  were  unjust;  hence,  as 
though  they  were  just.      Consequently,  the  doctors  pronounce 


266  THE  CHURCH 

the  sentence  that  the  excommunication  enjoined  in  the  proc- 
esses is  just. 

Likewise,  the  doctors  say  that  the  processes  [court  pro- 
ceedings] are  to  be  obeyed,  especially  because  in  them  noth- 
ing that  is  an  absolute  good  is  forbidden,  nor  is  anything 
enjoined  which  is  an  absolute  evil,  but  only  things  which  are 
intermediate,  in  which  obedience  must  be  rendered  in  accord- 
ance with  the  teaching  of  the  Gospel  and  in  accordance 
with  St.  Bernard.  Therefore  the  doctors  pass  sentence  that 
the  commands  in  the  processes  are  just,  among  which  is  the 
excommunication  of  Master  John  Huss.  Therefore,  these 
doctors  pass  the  sentence  that  the  excommunication  of  Mas- 
ter John  Huss  is  just.  And  they  themselves  are  part  of  the 
clergy  in  Prague.  Therefore,  this  very  conclusion  of  theirs 
confutes  these  doctors. 

Likewise,  these  doctors  pronounce  judgment  that  the 
excommunication  which  is  enjoined  in  the  processes  is  a 
thing  intermediate,  a  thing  between  that  which  is  absolutely 
good  and  that  which  is  absolutely  evil,  and  when  it  is  en- 
joined in  respect  to  the  mode,  time,  place  and  person,  then 
it  passes  over  into  a  thing  absolutely  good,  because  it  passes 
into  an  injunction  of  the  pope  and  prelates.  Therefore,  the 
doctors,  in  pronouncing  such  a  judgment  about  the  excom- 
munication, declare  that  it  is  just.  Nevertheless,  in  view  of 
their  conclusion,  they  ought  not  to  pronounce  the  judgment 
that  it  is  just.  And  this  they  do,  a  thing  they  ought  not  to 
do;  yea,  they  do  not  know  what  they  are  doing,  for  they  say 
that  it  is  not  for  the  clergy  in  Prague  to  pronounce  judg- 
ment that  the  excommunication  of  John  Huss  is  unjust,  and 
yet  they  pronounce  judgment  that  it  is  just.  It  is  certainly 
worthy  of  laughter  how  doctors  of  the  law  agree  to  this  con- 
clusion, doctors  who  pronounce  judgment  on  the  decrees, 
decretals  and  processes  [court  proceedings]  whether  they  are 
just  or  justly  given  or  by  just  men,  when  they  ought  by 
reasonable  methods  to  expound  the  decrees  and  the  decretals 


EXCOMMUNICATIONS,  JUST  AND   UNJUST    267 

and  examine  the  proceedings,  whether  they  are  Just  or  un- 
just, and  to  advise  others,  when  the  emergency  arises,  whether 
processes  ought  to  be  admitted  and  held  or  whether  they 
ought  not  be  admitted  and  held;  or  whether  it  is  lawful  to 
take  appeal  from  them.  This  is  clear,  because  the  doctors 
have  irrationally  shut  themselves  off  on  both  sides  from  a 
reasonable  judgment. 

But  how  the  processes  fulminated  against  me  are  null 
and  erroneous,  the  Venerable  Master  John  de  Jesenicz,  doctor 
of  canon  law,  showed  most  clearly  by  a  pubHc  discussion 
and  in  a  decision  in  the  university  of  Bologna.  And  because, 
as  I  have  said,  processes  of  this  kind  chiefly  enjoin  excom- 
munication, suspension  and  interdict,  for  that  reason  I  will 
say  something  about  them  briefly. 

Let  it  be  first  noted  that  excommunication  means  placing 
outside  of  communication,  11:3,  Nihil,  and  cap.  Canonica 
[Friedberg,  i  :  653,  674];  29  :  i,  Viduas  [Friedberg,  i  :  1091]; 
24  :  3  [Friedberg,  i  :  988];  11:3,  Omnis  Christianus  [Fried- 
berg, I  :  653],  and  the  chapter  following.  And,  because  ex- 
communication is  better  understood  through  its  opposite, 
namely,  communication  or  communion — inasmuch  as  by  the 
opposite  of  what  is  good  everything  good  is  understood,  so 
also  of  evil  and  its  opposite — therefore  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
communication  or  good  communion  is  threefold.  The  first 
is  the  participation  of  divine  grace,  which  makes  gracious. 
This  the  apostle  wishes  for  the  Corinthians,  when  he  says: 
"The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  love  of  God 
and  the  communication  of  the  Holy  Spirit  be  with  you  all," 
II  Cor.  13  :  13.  This  communication  is  the  communion  of 
the  saints,  who  are  Christ's  mystical  body,  the  body  of  which 
Christ  is  the  head,  and  this  communion  we  believe  when 
we  say:  "I  beheve  the  communion  of  saints."  The  second 
communication  or  communion  is  the  participation  in  the 
sacraments.  "There  is  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism," 
Eph.  4:5.     It  is  especially  taken,  however,  for  the  partici- 


268  THE   CHURCH 

pation  in  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  "The 
cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is  it  not  the  communication 
of  the  blood  of  Christ?  And  the  bread  which  we  break,  is 
it  not  the  participation  of  the  body  of  the  Lord?"  I  Cor. 
lo  :  i6.  Because  we,  being  many,  are  one  bread  and  one 
body,  seeing  we  partake  of  one  bread  and  one  cup.  The 
third  communication  or  communion  is  the  participation  in 
suffrages.^  In  this  participation  the  good  Lord  is  glorified: 
*'I  am  a  companion  of  all  them  that  fear  thee  and  that  keep 
thy  commandments,"  Ps.  119  :  63.  And  besides  this  three- 
fold communication  is  the  communication  which  is  the  inter- 
course between  all  Christians,  good  and  bad.  The  first  three 
are  only  participated  in  by  good  men,  but  of  this  fourth  men 
of  the  world  think  more. 

Secondly,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  in  this  statement  I  speak 
of  excommunication,  as  it  corresponds  to  the  fourfold  excom- 
munication just  spoken  of,  namely,  separation  (i)  from  par- 
ticipation in  divine  grace  which  makes  gracious,  (2)  from  a 
worthy  participation  in  the  sacraments,  (3)  from  participa- 
tion in  the  suffrages  which  prepare  for  the  hfe  eternal — these 
three  being  opposed  to  the  corresponding  threefold  communion 
— and  (4)  from  intercourse  with  Christians,  either  by  the 
censure  of  the  spiritual  or  public  exclusion  by  the  secular 
judge. 

From  these  it  follows:  (i)  that  there  is  not  and  can  never 
be  an  excommunication  of  the  three  first  kinds  except  for 
mortal  sins.  This  is  clear,  because  never  is  any  one  separ- 
ated from  the  communion  of  the  saints,  which  is  the  partic- 
ipation in  God's  grace,  and  the  sacraments  and  the  suffrages, 
preparing  for  the  life  eternal,  except  for  mortal  sin.  For 
mortal  sin  alone  divides  or  separates  from  communion  of 
this  kind,  just  as  it  separates  from  God  himself.  Nor  can 
this  happen  except  through  mortal  sins,  because,  so  long  as 

^  Suffrages  are  the  prayers  of  the  church  and  other  benefits  accruing  from 
the  acts  of  the  church  in  the  mass  and  indulgences.  See  Hergenrother :  K.- 
recht,  567;  Friedberg:  K.-recht,  294. 


EXCOMMUNICATIONS,  JUST  AND  UNJUST    269 

a  man  is  in  grace,  so  long  does  he  remain  a  partaker  of  the 
aforementioned  threefold  communion,  in  respect  to  the  law 
of  present  righteousness.  And  as  God  is  the  most  righteous 
judge,  He  cannot  damn  a  man  except  for  his  demerit  in  non- 
participation  of  this  kind.  Therefore,  the  corollary  is  true. 
(2)  It  follows  that  no  judge  may  ever  excommunicate  in  this 
way  unless  the  man  himself  shall  before  excommunicate  him- 
self by  his  offences.  (3)  It  follows  that  no  judge  ought  to 
excommunicate  any  one  except  for  a  criminal  offence^  or  on 
account  of  mortal  sin,  and  this  is  clear  from  11  :  3  [41,  Fried- 
berg,  I  :  655],  where  it  is  said:  "No  bishop  except  for  the 
certain  and  evident  cause  of  sin  shall  deprive  any  one  whom- 
soever from  ecclesiastical  communion  by  the  anathema, 
because  the  anathema  is  the  eternal  damnation  of  death, 
and  only  for  mortal  sin  ought  it  to  be  imposed  and  only  on 
him  who  may  not  be  otherwise  corrected."  And  it  is  also 
said,  24  :  3,  His  ita  respondetur  [Friedberg,  i  :  988]:  "With 
God  not  the  sentence  of  priests  is  sought  but  the  life  of  the 
guilty,  for  no  one  is  to  be  known  by  the  sentence  to  whom 
the  stain  of  sin  does  not  adhere."  Likewise,  Lyra,  Com.  on 
Hosea,  4,  at  the  end,  says:  "0  Judah,  send  Israel  away,  on 
account  of  his  wickedness,  for  their  company  is  separated, 
that  is,  excommunicated."  And  also  it  is  said  by  Augustine, 
2  :  I,  Multi,  5  [Friedberg,  i  :  446]:  "No  one  ought  to  be 
excommunicated  except  for  a  criminal  offence." 

All,  however,  agree  in  saying  that  excommunication  is  of 
two  kinds,  major  and  minor,  as  is  apparent  from  de  Sent, 
Excom.  si  quern  de  cleri  excommunicat.  fieri,  de  except,  cap.  2 
[Friedberg,  2  :  912]  ^  where  it  is  stated  that  a  minor  excom- 
munication removes  from  the  participation  of  the  sacraments 
but  the  major  separates  from  the  communion  of  the  faithful. 

*  A  crimen  or  criminal  offence  is  a  violation  of  a  natural  law  or  a  positive 
divine  commandment,  as,  for  example,  adultery,  as  opposed  to  a  violation  of 
ecclesiastical  law,  delictum.    Hergenrother,  549  5g.,  ySosq. 

'Gregory  IX's  Decretals,  5  :  39,  c.  59,  and  also  5  :  39,  c.  i,  make  the  dis- 
tinction above  made  by  Huss  between  major  and  minor  excommunication,  the 
canon  law  running:    "If  any  one  pronounces  the  words,  'I  excommunicate 


270  THE  CHURCH 

Minor  excommunication  is  separation  on  account  of  mortal 
sin  from  participation  in  spiritual  benefits  by  which  a  man 
makes  himself  unworthy  through  criminal  offence  to  continue 
to  participate  in  grace,  and  this  excommunication  no  one  may 
impose  upon  a  man  who  persists  in  God's  grace.  Major  ex- 
communication is  the  separation  which  the  prelates  of  the 
church  announce  against  a  man  as  an  open  sinner,  and  by 
which  they  set  him  off  from  intercourse  with  Christians  and 
from  participation  in  the  sacraments. 

By  this  excommunication  they  now  designate  me  in  proc- 
esses and  denunciations,  shutting  me  out  from  all  human 
communion.  But  blessed  be  God,  who  did  not  give  such 
force  to  this  [kind  of]  excommunication  as  to  make  it  possible 
for  it  to  take  away  from  a  good  man  virtue  or  righteousness, 
when  he  endures  in  humility,  nor  is  it  able  to  impose  upon 
him  sin  [when  he  refuses  to  obey  it].  Nay,  rather  when  he 
has  patiently  continued  to  endure  it  helps  to  purify  him  as 
tools  iron,  and  fire  gold,  and  it  helps  to  increase  his  reward 
of  beatitude,  as  the  Lord  said:  "Blessed  are  ye  when  men 
shall  persecute  you,  and  separate  you  from  their  company, 
and  reproach  you  and  cast  out  your  name  as  evil  for  the 
Son  of  man's  sake.  Rejoice  in  that  day  and  leap  for  joy,  for 
behold,  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven,  for  in  the  same  man- 
ner did  their  fathers  do  unto  the  prophets,"  Luke  6  :  22,  23. 

But  this  [major]  excommunication  ought  to  be  medicinal, 
that  is,  a  remedy  to  heal  a  man  in  his  soul  and  to  lead  him 

him,'  then  he  is  bound  not  merely  by  the  minor  excommunication  which  sep- 
arates from  participation  in  the  sacraments,  but  also  by  the  major  excom- 
munication which  separates  from  the  communion  of  the  faithful."  This  dis- 
tinction is  usually  resolved  into  a  difference  in  the  solemnities  attending  the 
announcement.  Since  Martin  V's  decree,  1418,  a  distinction  has  been  made 
between  excommunicated  persons  to  be  tolerated  and  avoided — tolerati  et  vi- 
iandi.  In  case  one  of  the  latter  is  present  at  any  meeting,  the  priest  must 
interrupt  the  service.  With  those  who  are  to  be  avoided  are  forbidden  all  passing 
of  words,  prayer,  greetings,  intercourse  and  fellowship  at  the  table.  See 
Hergenrother,  567  sqq.;  Friedberg,  K.-rechi,  pp.  293  sqq.  Wyclif,  de  Eccles., 
153  ■^??-  and  de  dont.  civ.,  300  ^g.,  gives  the  conditions  justifying  excommuni- 
cation and  refers  to  the  distinction  between  minor  and  major  excommunica- 
tion and  the  solemn  extinguishing  of  candles  in  the  latter. 


EXCOMMUNICATIONS,  JUST  AND  UNJUST    271 

back  to  Christ's  fold  and  to  life  eternal  as  a  measure  or- 
dained for  a  final  end.  Therefore,  St.  Augustine,  Homilia, 
de  penilentia,  also  2:1,  Multi,  says:  "Excommunication 
ought  not  to  be  mortal  but  medicinal."  Again,  Cum  medi- 
cinalis.  de  Sent.  Excom.,  liber  6:7.^  A  notorious  sinner 
after  the  third  warning  or  public  citation,  when  he  refuses 
to  be  corrected,  ought  on  account  of  his  criminal  offence  to 
be  kept  from  communication  according  to  the  Saviour's  com- 
mand, where  he  said  to  Peter:  "If  thy  brother  sin  against 
thee,  go  show  him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone. 
If  he  hear  thee,  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he 
will  not  hear  thee,  take  with  thee  one  or  two  more  that  at 
the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every  word  may  be  es- 
tabHshed.  And  if  he  refuses  to  hear  them,  tell  it  to  the 
church.  And  if  he  refuses  to  hear  the  church  also,  let  him 
be  unto  thee  as  the  Gentile  and  the  publican,"  Matt.  18  : 
15-17.  This  exposition  is  given  above  at  the  beginning  of 
Chapter  XXI  of  this  treatise,  in  which  the  conditions  of  a 
true  prelate  are  indicated.  Nevertheless,  this  is  yet  to  be 
noted,  that  Christ  said:  *'If  he  sin,"  that  is,  commit  the  sin 
of  a  criminal  offence,  for  on  that  account  he  is  deserving  of 
correction  and  he  is  not  to  be  excommunicated  for  anything 
whatsoever.  But  if  he  show  himself  incorrigible,  after  the 
third  reproof,  then  he  ought  to  be  carefully  avoided  as  a 
heathen  Gentile  and  a  publican;  otherwise  not.  Let,  there- 
fore, prelates  see  to  it  that  they  act  cautiously,  lest  they  ex- 
communicate so  easily  subjects  for  temporal  gain. 

Hence,  St.  Augustine,  Sermo  de  Quadragesima:  "We  can- 
not deprive  of  the  communion,  because  this  prohibition  is 
not  yet  mortal  or  medicinal,  except  in  the  case  of  one  who 
has  of  his  own  accord  confessed  or  has  been  named  or  con- 
victed in  some  secular  or  ecclesiastical  tribunal."  And  he  also 
says  on  these  words,  "If  any  man  that  is  named  a  brother 
be  a  fornicator  or  covetous  or  an  idolater  or  a  reviler  or 
*  Boniface  VIII's  Liber  Sexius  de  sent,  excom.,  5:11;  i  Friedberg,  2  :  1093. 


272  THE  CHURCH 

a  drunkard  or  an  extortioner,  with  such  an  one  no  not  to  eat," 
I  Cor.  5  :  ii:  "Likewise  it  must  be  known  that  every 
one  sinning  mortally  is  excommunicated  of  God,  in  accord- 
ance with  that  Psalm,  'Cursed  are  those  who  depart  from 
thy  commandments,'  and  I  Cor.  i6  :  22,  'If  any  man  love 
not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be  anathema.' "  And  al- 
though this  excommunication  is  called  minor  because  it  is 
not  pronounced  solemnly  in  public  by  a  prelate,  neverthe- 
less I  fear  it  more  than  the  major  excommunication,  with 
which  the  prelates  now  assail  me.  But,  besides,  I  fear  the 
greatest  excommunication  more  still  with  which  the  high 
priest,  sitting  in  the  sight  of  all  the  angels  and  men,  will  ex- 
communicate the  damned  from  participation  in  eternal  bless- 
edness, as  he  said:  "Go,^  ye  cursed  into  the  eternal  fire  which 
is  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels,"  Matt.  25  :  41.  Of 
this  excommunication  the  judge  ought  to  think  and  he  ought 
to  beware  lest  he  excommunicate  unjustly.  For  whoever 
excommunicates  another  for  temporal  gain  or  chiefly  for  his 
own  honor  or  to  revenge  an  injury  against  himself  or  with- 
out any  known  cause  of  criminal  ofifence  this  man  excom- 
municates himself.  For  he  ought  to  excommunicate  him 
whom  God  excommunicates,  for  criminal  offence  which  he 
knows  [the  possible  offender]  has  committed  and  after  the 
third  warning  and  out  of  love,  for  the  honor  of  God  and 
for  the  salvation  of  the  man  whom  he  excommunicates  and 
also  for  the  advantage  of  others  that  they  may  fear  and 
that  he  [the  offender]  do  not  infect  them.  So  Paul  did  when, 
writing  to  the  Corinthians,  he  charged  them  to  cast  out  the 
public  fornicator  lest  he  should  infect  others  and  also  that 
his  soul  might  be  saved,  I  Cor.  5:5. 

Now,  these  things  being  considered,  the  faithful  should 
know  how  many  prelates,  clergy  and  laity  are  excommuni- 
cated of  God;  for  all  who  depart  from  the  Lord's  command- 
ments are  excommunicated,  and  also  how  many  excommuni- 

^  lie.    Vulgate:  discedite  a  me. 


EXCOMMUNICATIONS,  JUST  AND  UNJUST    273 

cate  themselves  when  they  put  excommunication  on  others, 
or  pubHsh  it,  and  especially  the  clerics  who,  as  it  were,  every 
day  at  prime  sing:  ''Cursed  are  they  who  depart  from  thy 
commandments . ' ' 

This  much,  in  brief,  with  respect  to  excommunication,  in 
regard  to  which  that  good  Christian  of  holy  memory  and 
that  great  zealot  of  Christ's  law.  Master  Frederick  Epinge, 
bachelor  of  canon  law,  treating  of  the  first  article,  said:  "No 
prelate  ought  to  excommunicate  anybody  unless  he  first  knows 
that  the  person  has  been  excommunicated  by  God."  Of  this 
I  have  written  in  another  place.  And,  if  thou  wilt  not  be- 
lieve it,  learn  it  on  the  wall  in  Bethlehem,^  and  there  thou 
wilt  find  how  excommunication  does  not  injure  the  righteous 
but  profits  and  why  even  the  righteous  ought  to  fear  unjust 
prelatic  or  Pilatic  excommunication,  and  for  these  reasons,  (i) 
that  he  may  not  be  guilty  at  some  other  place  or  time.  (2) 
The  danger  to  him  who  unjustly  excommunicates.  (3)  The 
injury  to  the  brethren  which  may  follow  from  a  foohsh  ap- 
plication of  censures;  (4)  that  they  may  not  become  an  occa- 
sion of  stumbling  by  going  back  from  the  truth;  (5)  that  they 
may  not  suffer  an  injury  by  an  excommunicated  person's 
curses;  (6)  that  he  by  impatience  may  not  fall  from  merit  or 
depart  from  righteousness — and  also  for  other  reasons  ex- 
plained more  fully  and  pertinently  in  another  place.^ 

'Huss  refers  to  the  six  inscriptions  on  the  walls  of  Bethlehem  chapel, 
Mon.,  I  :  237-243,  which  were  intended  to  counteract  six  errors  about  the 
mass — namely,  that  the  priest  creates  the  body  of  Christ;  faith — namely, 
that  faith  is  exercised  in  Mary,  etc.,  and  not  in  God  only;  absolution  from  sin 
— namely,  that  the  priest  absolves  whomsoever  he  will;  obedience — namely, 
that  subjects  are  bound  to  obey  all  commands  issued  by  superiors;  excommu- 
nication; and  simony,  which,  so  the  inscription  read,  "the  clergy  for  the  most 
part,  alas!  practise."  In  regard  to  the  fifth,  excommunication,  the  inscrip- 
tion ran:  "It  is  an  error  that  every  excommunication,  just  or  unjust,  binds 
the  excommunicated  person  and  separates  him  from  the  communion  of  Christ's 
faithful  and  deprives  him  of  the  sacraments."  Epinge's  name  I  do  not  find  in 
Schulte  or  Chevalier. 

-These  six  reasons  for  standing  in  fear  even  of  an  unjust  sentence  of  ex- 
communication, Huss  quotes  from  memory,  leaving  out  one  which  he  had  given 
in  his  de  sex  Erroribus,  Mon.,  i  :  240.    Some  of  these  reasons  he  sets  forth 


274  THE  CHURCH 

Then,  in  regard  to  the  excommunication,  by  which  the 
wicked  separate  the  good  from  themselves,  this  should  be 
said,  that  the  wicked  excommunicated  Christ  and  the  man 
born  bUnd,  as  appears  in  John  9  :  22,  34.  This  kind  of  ex- 
communication may  be  distinguished  also  from  its  opposite, 
which  is  communion  in  evil,  of  which  it  is  said:  "Have 
no  communion  with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,"  Eph. 
5  :  11;  and,  "He  that  giveth  him  greeting  communes  in  his 
evil  works,"  H  John  11;  and,  "What  communication  has  a 
saint  with  a  dog?"  Ecclesiasticus  13,  as  if  he  had  said.  None ! 
Therefore,  every  one  being  in  grace  in  respect  to  present 
righteousness  is  excommunicated  [out  of  communion  with] 
from  the  wicked.  And  this  is  that  holy  excommunication 
by  which  the  righteous  is  said  to  be  excommunicate,  that 
is,  placed  outside  of  communication  or  participation  with 
wickedness.  Hence,  John  says:  "And  I  heard  another  voice 
from  heaven  saying,  Come  forth,  my  people,  out  of  her,  that 
ye  have  no  participation  with  her  sins  and  that  ye  receive  not 
of  her  plagues,  for  her  sins  have  reached  even  unto  heaven," 
Rev.  18  :  4,  5.  Let  us  ask  the  Lord  that  He  may  vouch- 
safe to  preserve  us  in  His  communion  and  guard  us  against 
unlawful  communion. 

there  more  clearly,  for  example,  3,  which  there  reads:  "The  injury  to  neigh- 
bors which  might  easily  arise  as  a  result  of  the  excommunication  as,  for  ex- 
ample, the  deprivation  of  wholesome  teaching  and  sacraments,  for  he  who 
wrongly  excommunicates  sometimes  is  the  cause  of  the  perdition  of  many 
through  the  withholding  from  the  excommunicate  teaching  by  which  he  would 
be  instructed  most  profitably  in  the  law  of  Christ."  And  the  fifth  there  reads: 
"That  the  neighbors  may  not  sin  by  avoiding  him,  cursing  him,  and  withhold- 
ing from  him  the  works  of  charity."  Huss's  treatment  of  the  subject  of  ex- 
communication in  the  de  sex  Erroribus  is  more  clear  and  practical  than  his 
treatment  in  this  chapter.  There  he  introduces  many  pertinent  quotations 
from  the  Fathers  and  especially  from  the  Scriptures  which  are  not  given  here, 
as,  for  example,  Num.  23  :  8:  "How  shall  I  curse  whom  God  hath  not  cursed?  " 
On  the  other  hand,  he  leaves  out  there  the  distinction  between  the  major  and 
minor  excommunications  and  the  prolonged  explanations  of  communication 
and  excommunication.  The  cases  of  Balaam  and  Ananias  Huss  uses  often,  e.  g., 
Mon.,  I  :  362,  401. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT 

Now  of  suspension  this  is  to  be  said  that,  in  the  state- 
ment, to  suspend  is  an  administrative  act  or  to  prohibit  any 
good  thing  on  account  of  a  criminal  offence.  Hence,  what  the 
old  decretals  call  suspension  the  new  law  and  decretals  call 
the  interdict,  and  then  they  speak  of  ecclesiastical  suspension 
from  an  office  or  from  a  church  benefice  or  of  an  ecclesias- 
tical interdict  from  executing  an  office  of  the  church. 

This  definition  of  suspension,  therefore,  being  laid  down, 
it  is  to  be  noted  that,  just  as  it  is  proper  in  itself  in  the  first 
instance  for  God  to  excommunicate  a  man,  so  also  it  is  proper 
for  Him  in  the  first  instance  to  suspend  him.  Hence  it  is 
impossible  for  a  pope  or  bishop  to  suspend  any  one  justly, 
except  as  he  has  been  before  suspended  of  God,  just  as  it  is 
impossible  for  the  pope  to  think  anything  righteously  unless 
the  thought  be  before  suggested  of  God.  Hence  the  apostle 
rightly  says:  ''Not  that  we  are  sufficient  of  ourselves  to 
think  anything  as  of  ourselves,  but  our  sufficiency  is  of  God," 
II  Cor.  3  :  5.  And  the  supreme  Bishop  himself  said:  "Apart 
from  me  ye  can  do  nothing,"  John  15  :  5.  From  this  it  is 
clear  that  a  suspension  pronounced  by  a  prelate  is  only 
worth  as  much  as  God  almighty  makes  it  to  be  worth.  Hence, 
God's  efficient  suspension  extends  itself  to  priests,  kings  and 
every  one  in  authority  whom  He  removes  from  office  or  whom 
He  takes  from  Hfe  by  a  decree  of  retribution.  Hence,  He 
suspends  any  one  from  the  sacerdotal  dignity,  as  it  is  written: 
"Because  thou  hast  rejected  knowledge,  I  will  also  reject 
thee.  Thou  shalt  be  no  priest  to  me,"  Hosea  4:6;  "Bring 
no  more  vain  oblations,"  Isaiah   i  :  13;    and  "I  have  no 

27s 


276  THE  CHURCH 

pleasure  in  you,  neither  will  I  accept  an  oflfering  at  thy  hand,'* 
Mai.  I  :  10.  And  Christ's  apostle  suspended  all  who  were 
guilty  of  criminal  offence  from  the  ministry  of  Christ's  body 
and  blood  and  the  Lord,  as  he  said:  "Wherefore  whoso  shall 
eat  the  bread  and  drink  the  cup  of  the  Lord  in  an  unworthy 
manner  shall  be  guilty  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord," 
I  Cor.  II  :  27.  Likewise,  we  read  of  the  severe  suspension 
of  Eli  and  his  family,  in  that  he  did  not  duly  correct  his  sons, 
as  the  Lord  said  to  Eli:  "Wherefore  kick  ye  at  my  sacrifices 
and  my  offerings  which  I  have  commanded  that  they  should 
be  offered  in  my  temple  and  honorest  thy  sons  above  me,  to 
make  yourselves  fat  with  all  the  chiefest  of  the  offerings  of 
Israel  my  people?  Therefore  the  Lord  saith  to  Israel,  I  said 
indeed  that  thy  house  and  the  house  of  thy  father  should 
minister  for  ever  before  me,  but  now  the  Lord  saith,  Be  it 
far  from  me,  for  he  who  honoreth  me,  him  will  I  honor,  and 
they  that  despise  me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed.  Behold  the 
days  come  that  I  will  cut  off  thy  arm  and  the  arm  of  thy 
father's  house  .  .  .  and  this  shall  be  the  sign  unto  thee  that 
shall  come  upon  thy  two  sons,  on  Hophni  and  Phinehas;  in 
one  day  they  shall  die,  both  of  them.  And  I  will  raise  me 
up  a  faithful  priest,  who  shall  do  according  to  my  heart  and 
my  mouth,"  I  Sam.  2  :  29-35.  Likewise,  of  the  suspension 
of  the  king,  Saul,  who,  in  the  face  of  God's  commandments 
had  spared  God's  enemies,  we  read:  "Because  thou  hast 
rejected  the  word  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  also  hath  rejected 
thee  from  being  king,"  I  Sam.  15  :  23. 

It  is  plain  how  suspension  varies,  for  one  is  a  suspen- 
sion from  office,  one  from  a  benefice  or  from  some  other 
good  from  which  the  sinner  is  justly  suspended  on  account 
of  open  sin.  Likewise,  there  is  a  suspension  in  fact  and  a 
suspension  by  law  and  there  are  other  sorts  of  suspension. 
But,  as  has  been  said,  suspension  by  law  belongs  chiefly  to 
God  to  originate  and  regulate,  but  suspension  in  fact  occurs 
when  God  sometimes  through  good,  sometimes  through  bad, 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         277 

ministers  suspends  by  the  natural  order  of  things  any  offend- 
ing prelate  from  his  office  and  ministry  when  he  is  actually 
in  criminal  offence.  For  he  sins  by  the  very  fact  that  he 
falls  into  mortal  sin,  whatever  it  be  that  he  may  do,  and 
consequently  he  is  forbidden  of  God  to  sin  in  that  way,  and 
consequently  he  is  suspended  by  God  from  that  office.  Hence, 
the  prophet  says:  "God  said  unto  the  sinner.  What  hast 
thou  to  do,  to  declare  my  statutes,  and  that  thou  hast  taken 
my  covenant  in  thy  mouth?  seeing  thou  hatest  instruction 
and  castest  my  words  behind  thee.  When  thou  sawest  a  thief 
thou  rannest  with  him,  and  hast  been  a  partaker  with  adul- 
terers. Thy  mouth  abounds  in  evil  and  thy  tongue  blabbeth 
deceit.  Thou  sittest  and  speakest  against  thy  brother  and 
thou  settest  up  slander  against  thy  mother's  son,"  Psalm 
50  :  16-20.  Here  God  enumerates  the  sins  for  which  He  sus- 
pends the  sinner  from  the  publication  of  His  covenant  which 
is  the  law  of  truth.  The  first  sin  is  disobedience  to  God, 
the  second,  rejection  of  His  words;  the  third,  theft;  the  fourth, 
adultery;  the  fifth,  wickedness  of  mouth,  which  divides  itself 
into  lies,  blasphemy,  false  testimony,  deceit,  slander,  vain 
speaking,  malediction,  base  speaking,  and  such  like;  the  sixth, 
the  sin  of  taking  offence  at  Christ. 

From  this  we  gather  how  rare  are  judges,  preachers  and 
others  who  publish  God's  covenant  to  the  people  who  should 
not  be  suspended  of  God  from  the  publication  of  that  cove- 
nant. Therefore,  let  the  faithful  note  in  the  matter  of  sus- 
pension just  spoken  of  from  the  office  of  publishing  God's 
covenant  and  for  the  threefold  example  spoken  of  above 
whether  or  not  our  prelates  and  clerics  are  suspended  of 
God.  First,  if  they  thrust  from  themselves  the  knowledge 
of  Scriptures  and  the  task  of  evangelization,  then  are  they 
suspended  by  God,  as  in  the  lesser  case  [that  is,  preaching 
under  the  O.  T.]  we  read  in  Hosea  4,  for  our  prelates  have, 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  other,  greater  material  for  preach- 
ing and  a  better  model  and  also  certain  reasons  for  preach- 


278  THE   CHURCH 

ing  above  what  the  priests  of  the  old  law  had,  and  yet 
they  exercise  this  office  less.  Therefore,  as  there  is  a  greater 
reason  now  underlying  the  duty  to  preach,  and  as  the  same 
Lord  is  present,  who  is  not  able  to  withhold  final  vengeance 
in  view  of  the  greater  sin  in  not  preaching,  and  the  demands 
of  His  justice,  it  is  clear  that  if  our  prelates  are  of  this  kind, 
they  are  under  a  more  severe  suspension.  Yea,  and  they 
are  under  a  still  more  severe  suspension  in  so  far  as  they  are 
under  more  urgent  obligation  to  fervently  proclaim  Christ's 
law  in  these  times  of  antichrist. 

So  far  as  the  second  kind  of  suspension  goes — that  of 
Eli  pronounced  by  God — the  faithful  should  note  whether 
our  prelates  either  do  not  punish  at  all  or  punish  their 
spiritual  sons  as  more  guilty  than  the  natural  sons  of  Eli,  who 
were  punished  of  God.  And  in  order  to  discern  their  greater 
guilt,  the  faithful  ought  to  note  these  two  things:  (i)  that  a 
prelate  is  under  greater  obligation  to  his  spiritual  son  than 
any  one  by  the  law  of  reason  is  to  his  natural  son  and  (2) 
that  more  detestable  is  the  punishment  meted  out  on  ac- 
count of  the  lack  of  money  for  which  [pardon  for]  sin  is  sold 
than  is  a  punishment  remitted  for  the  vindication  of  an  in- 
jury against  God  out  of  natural  affection,  as  Eli  seems  to 
have  spared  his  sons.  So  far  as  the  third  kind  of  suspen- 
sion goes,  as  it  holds  for  prelates,  kings,  and  other  secular 
princes,  let  the  faithful  note  that  the  prelates  show  more 
favor  to  the  public  enemies  of  God  for  the  sake  of  their  own 
comfort  than  Saul  showed  to  Amalek  moved  by  lust  for  his 
temporal  goods.  If  this  is  so,  then  there  is  no  doubt  but 
that  the  same  God  who  at  all  times  must  exercise  the  same 
justice  punishes  the  delinquent  more  severely.  Therefore, 
it  is  an  evident  mark  of  the  severity  of  punishment  that 
God  puts  off  punishment  till  after  death  and  does  not  pun- 
ish them  in  this  life  in  any  other  way  but  permits  them 
to  wander  about  in  mundane  prosperity  as  reprobates  who 
are  not  reproved. 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         279 

But,  alas,  this  threefold  suspension  men  do  not  think  of, 
and  especially  ought  those  higher  in  worldly  rank  often  re- 
volve in  their  minds  the  way  in  which  they  may  be  sus- 
pended from  office  and  from  benefice  forever.  Hence,  on 
the  words,  "The  Lord  in  his  anger  said  to  Moses,  Take  all 
the  chiefs  of  the  people  and  hang  them  up  before  the  sun 
on  the  gallows,"  Num.  25  :  4,  Origen,  Horn.  20,  speaks  thus: 
"The  Lord  said  unto  Moses  that  he  should  take  all  the  chiefs 
and  hang  them  up  to  the  Lord  before  the  sun.  The  people 
sin  and  the  chiefs  are  hung  up  before  the  sun,  that  is,  they 
are  brought  forward  that  they  may  be  examined,  and  may 
be  convicted  by  the  light.  Thou  seest  what  was  the  con- 
dition of  the  chiefs  of  the  people.  Not  only  were  they  con- 
victed for  their  own  transgressions  but  they  were  also  obliged 
to  give  a  reason  for  the  sins  of  the  people  lest  perhaps  the 
guilt  was  theirs  that  the  people  came  short,  and  lest  per- 
haps they  had  not  taught  nor  moved  nor  been  soHcitous 
to  convict  those  who  were  first  in  the  guilt  that  the  conta- 
gion might  not  be  spread  among  many.  For  the  leaders  and 
doctors  ought  to  do  all  these  things,  for,  if  they  do  not  and 
have  no  concern  for  the  common  people,  the  people  sin, 
and  they  themselves  are  held  up  and  brought  forth  to  receive 
sentence.  Moses,  that  is,  God's  law,  convicts  them  as  neg- 
lectful and  indolent,  and  the  wrath  of  God  is  turned  against 
them  and  withdrawn  from  the  people.  If  men  would  think 
of  these  things,  they  would  never  desire  the  chiefs  of  the 
people  or  go  to  them.  For  it  is  sufficient  for  me,  if  I  am  con- 
victed of  my  own  sins  and  shortcomings,  it  is  sufficient  for  me 
to  render  a  reason  for  my  own  self  and  for  my  own  sins. 
Why  is  it  necessary  for  me  also  to  be  held  up  for  the  people's 
sins  before  the  sun,  in  the  face  of  which  nothing  can  be  hid- 
den or  kept  dark  or  veiled?"  And  Origen  adds,  "the  chiefs 
are  held  up  before  the  sun  and,  if  guilt  is  found  in  them,  God's 
anger  ceases  towards  the  people."  So  much  Origen,  who 
shows  how  chiefs  are  heavily  censured  for  the  sin  of  self-in- 
dulgence which  the  people  practise. 


28o  THE  CHURCH 

Woe,  therefore,  to  the  modern  spiritual  and  secular  princes 
who  themselves  practise  self-indulgence,  who  give  to  their  sub- 
jects a  bad  example  and  do  not  reprove  them  or,  if  they  re- 
prove them,  do  this  out  of  avarice!  Such,  without  doubt,  are 
suspended  from  office  by  God,  for  it  is  written  in  the  papal 
law.  Decretals,  3,  de  vita  et  honestate  [Friedberg,  2  :  455]:^ 
"We  command  your  brotherhood  that,  as  far  as  the  clerics 
of  your^  jurisdiction  are  concerned,  who  are  in  the  subdiac- 
onate  or  the  orders  above  it,  if  they  have  mistresses,  ye 
should  studiously  take  care  to  admonish  them  that  they  re- 
move from  themselves  these  women  who  least  of  all  ought 
to  have  been  admitted.  But,  if  they  refuse  to  acquiesce,  ye 
shall  suspend  them  from  their  ecclesiastical  benefices  until 
they  make  condign  satisfaction,  and  if  they  who  are  sus- 
pended presume  to  keep  these  women,  ye  shall  see  to  it  that 
ye  remove  them  permanently  from  those  benefices."  Be- 
cause there  is  no  defect  in  the  law  but  in  the  superiors  who 
ought  to  practise  it,  therefore,  the  pope  in  the  preceding 
chapter  says  that  prelates  who  may  presume  to  hold  on  in 
their  iniquities  to  such  persons,  especially  for  the  sake  of 
getting  money  or  some  other  temporal  good,  them  we  wish 
to  subject  to  the  same  punishment.  And  it  is  said  by  the 
authority  of  St.  Gregory,  Dist.  83  [Friedberg,  i  :  293]:  "If 
any  bishop  shall  assent  to  the  fornication  of  clerics  for  a 
price  or  at  their  petitions  and  not  assail  their  authority,  he 
ought  to  be  suspended  from  his  office."^     And  this  suspen- 

iThe  heading  of  the  chapter  in  the  Decretals  is:  "The  cohabitation  of 
clerics  with  women."  The  quotation  is  from  Alexander  Ill's  letter  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  A  part  of  the  letter,  not  quoted  by  Huss,  speaks  "  of  the 
depraved  and  detestable  custom  which  had  prevailed  in  England  for  a  long 
time,  of  clerics  having  mistresses  in  their  houses."  WiUiam  the  Conqueror  did 
not  enforce  celibacy  and  a  council  at  Winchester,  1076,  allowed  priests  already 
married  to  retain  their  wives,  prohibiting  marriages  thereafter.  Councils  under 
Anselra,  1102,  1108,  ordered  priests  to  dismiss  their  concubines,  but  Eadmer, 
Anselm's  biographer,  declares  that  few  priests  observed  the  chastity  Anselm 
called  for,  and  Pascal  II,  writing  to  Anselm,  said  most  of  the  English  priests 
were  married.    In  Bohemia  the  law  of  celibacy  was  also  late  of  enforcement. 

*Huss's  text  wrongly  has  nostra — our. 

'  I  have  restored  some  of  the  omitted  words  from  the  canon  law  for  the 
sake  of  clearness. 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         281 

sion,  according  to  the  archdeacon/  ought  to  be  permanent, 
equivalent  to  deposition,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  assem- 
bling the  bishops  for  the  purpose  of  deposing  such  bishops 
or  bishop  who  simoniacally  have  sold  or  sell  righteousness. 
And  because  a  metropoHtan — as  is  the  Roman  ponti£f — may 
be  slow  so  far  as  his  cardinals  are  concerned  in  the  execu- 
tion of  this  holy  duty,  therefore,  in  the  third  place,  they  have 
ordained  laws  intended  to  remedy  the  disorders,  namely,  that 
the  mass  of  the  priest  shall  not  be  heard  from  him  to  whom 
it  is  notorious  that  that  priest  is  living  in  fornication,  nor 
shall  the  goods  of  the  church  be  administered  to  him  to 
encourage  the  deed.  For  Pope  Nicolas,  Dist.  32,  Nullus 
[Friedberg,  i  :  117],  says:  "Let  no  one  hear  a  mass  said  by  a 
presbyter  of  whom  he  knows  beyond  a  peradventure  that 
he  is  keeping  a  concubine."  ^  Hence,  Alexander  II  in  the 
same  place  says:  "We  charge  and  command  that  no  one 
hear  mass  said  by  a  presbyter  of  whom  he  knows  beyond 
a  peradventure  that  he  has  a  concubine."  And  he  goes  on 
to  say:  "Therefore  the  holy  synod  [Roman  synod,  1063] 
also  decreed  this  under  the  head  of  excommunication,  when 
it  said:  *  Whatsoever  priest,  deacon,  or  subdeacon,  in  view 
of  the  constitution  passed  by  our  predecessor  of  blessed  mem- 
ory, holy  Pope  Leo  [IX]  or  Nicolas  [II],  on  the  chastity  of 
the  clergy,  shall  again  take  a  concubine  or  not  give  up  the 
one  he  already  has,  we  in  the  stead  of  Almighty  God  and  by 
the  authority  of  the  princes,  Peter  and  Paul,  charge  and 
wholly  forbid  that  he  sing  mass  or  read  the  Gospel  or  the 
Epistle  in  the  missal  service  or  that  he  remain  in  the  pres- 
bytery with  those  who,  in  performance  of  divine  ser\dce,  have 
been  obedient  to  the  aforesaid  constitution  or  that  he  receive 
anything  from  the  church.'"  On  this  the  archdeacon  says: 
"That  the  people  ought  to  withhold  from  such  a  one  vol- 

*  One  of  the  glossators  of  the  Liber  Sextus,  Guido  de  Baysio,  archdeacon  of 
Bologna,  d.  13 13. 

*  The  decretal  adds  aut  subintroductam  mulierem — a  woman  secretly  intro- 
duced. 


282  THE  CHURCH 

untary  tithes,  because  a  benefice  is  not  given  except  for  the 
performance  of  duty.  And  inasmuch  as  the  same  sentence 
or  a  greater  one  holds  for  spiritual  fornication,  which  is  a 
greater  o£fence,  it  is  evident  that  the  inferior  ought  to  be 
suspended  by  the  superior  prelate,  namely,  for  the  spiritual 
sin — which  is  more  grave — whatever  it  may  be.  And  as  it 
is  certain  that  Luciferian  pride  in  a  prelate,  neglect  of  evan- 
gelizing and  avarice  like  that  of  Iscariot  are  sins  more  grave 
than  carnal  fornication,  it  is  plain  that  the  supreme  prelate, 
Christ  Jesus,  to  whom  these  graver  sins  are  chiefly  known, 
does  not  withhold  suspension  on  any  excuse  proportioned 
to  the  guilt.  From  these  things,  when  the  condition  of  the 
church  is  inquired  into,  it  is  gathered  that  from  pope  down 
to  the  lowest  priest  rarely  is  one  exempt  for  a  given  time  from 
suspension  unless  it  be  he  who  blamelessly  follows  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  For  it  has  already  been  said  how  fornicators 
are  suspended.  Likewise  of  simoniac  clerics,  Quicumque  by 
Gregory,  and  Reper.  by  Ambrose  [i:  i  :  cap.  2,  7;  Fried- 
berg,  I  :  358,  359].  Likewise  clerics  are  suspended  for  brood- 
ing over^  base  gains  and  lucre,"  Dist.  88  [Friedberg,  i  :  307]. 
And  since  all  these  persons,  in  view  of  the  law  of  Christ,  min- 
ister to  the  church  unworthily,  it  is  clear  how  manifold  are 
the  irregularities  and  profanations  which  the  clergy  of  the 
church  are  involved  in. 

Of  profanation  I  have  treated  in  the  tract  contra  adver- 
sarium  occuUum,'^  showing  how  every  wicked  presbyter  pro- 
fanes— that  is,  violates,  curses,  and  contaminates — God's  spir- 
itual temple.    For,  to  follow  the  saints  in  their  lives  is  un- 

'  Pope  Gelasius  uses  the  word  imminere  where  Huss  uses  incubantes — brood- 
ing. 

*  "Against  the  Hidden  Adversary,"  Mon.,  i  :  168-179.  This  treatise,  writ- 
ten 141 2  in  reply  to  an  attack  that  Huss  was  destroying  the  law  and  also  de- 
strojang  the  priesthood  by  his  preaching,  brings  out:  (i)  That  the  wickedness 
of  the  people  and  the  priests  brought  about  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and 
(2)  that  by  driving  out  the  hucksters  from  the  temple  and  by  many  in- 
stances in  the  O.  T.  it  was  taught  that  secular  princes  have  the  duty  of  pun- 
ishing simoniac  priests  by  withdrawing  from  them  their  livings. 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         283 

doubtedly  more  honorable  than  all  material  temples,  which 
will  not  last  after  the  day  of  judgment.  And  woe  is  me,  if 
I  keep  silence,  not  assailing  the  avarice  or  the  evident  luxury 
of  the  clergy.  For  it  is  said,  DisL  83  [84,  85,  Friedberg, 
I  :  292  sq.],  an  error  not  resisted  is  an  error  approved  and 
the  truth,  inasmuch  as  it  is  defended  least,  is  oppressed.  In- 
deed, as  one  is  able  to  convict^  perverse  persons,  to  neglect  to 
do  so  is  nothing  else  than  to  favor  them.  And  there  is  not 
lacking  the  suspicion  of  a  hidden  fellowship  in  the  case  of  him 
who  neglects  to  oppose  a  deed  evidently  bad.  For  what  does 
it  profit  him  not  to  be  polluted  with  another's  error  if  he 
gives  assent  to  the  one  who  errs?  For  he  evidently  assents 
to  him  who  is  in  error  who  does  not  help  him  to  cut  out 
those  things  that  ought  to  be  reproved. 

Hence  St.  Gregory,  Pastoral  Theology,  cap.  15  [2:4, 
Nic.  Fathers,  2d  Ser.,  12  :  11],  quotes  Lam.  2  :  14,  "Thy 
prophets  have  seen  for  thee  false  and  foolish  visions  and 
they  have  not  uncovered  thy  iniquity  to  provoke  thee  to 
repentance,"  and  says:  "Indeed  in  the  sacred  oracle  the 
prophets  are  sometimes  called  doctors,  who,  while  they  pre- 
sent the  present  as  fleeting,  declare  the  things  that  are  to 
come  as  evident.  And  the  divine  discourse  asserts:  'They 
have  seen  false  things,'  for  while  they  fear  to  correct  guilt, 
they,  in  vain,  flatter  the  sinning  by  promises  of  safety,  be- 
cause they  never  in  any  way  uncover  the  iniquity  of  the 
sinning.  For  they  suppress  the  voice  of  chiding.  Indeed 
the  key  which  opens  is  the  word  of  reproof.  For  by  chiding 
the  voice  uncovers  guilt,  of  which  often  he  himself  is  not 
aware  who  is  chargeable  with  it."  These  words  of  St.  Gregory 
are  also  found,  Dist.  43,  sit  rector  [Friedberg,  i  :  154]. 

Oh  that  our  doctors  would  turn  to  these  things,  for  then 

they  would  not  speak  fair  of  the  life  of  prelates  and  they 

would  not  be  slow  to  uncover  to  them  their  iniquity,  that 

they  might  provoke  them  to  penitence.     They  would  see  in 

*  Posset  arguere.    The  original  has  possis  perturbare. 


284  THE  CHURCH 

how  many  ways  one  may  consent  to  the  open  sin  of  another, 
for  he  consents  who  co-operates,  who  defends,  who  gives 
counsel,  and  sanctions,  and  also  who  neglects  to  threaten 
and  rebuke. 

Now,  in  regard  to  the  interdict  with  which,  on  account 
of  the  sin  of  a  single  man,  or  of  a  number,  the  clergy  vex 
Christ's  common  people — plebs.^  For  by  the  three  censures, 
excommunication,  suspension  and  interdict,  for  their  own 
exaltation  they  keep  the  laity  at  their  feet,  increase  their 
avarice,  protect  wickedness  and  prepare  the  way  for  anti- 
christ. And  all  three  censures  they  heap  up  on  the  ground 
of  [as  a  punishment  for]  disobedience  in  this  way,  that  every 
one  that  does  not  obey  them  and  yield  to  their  will,  him 
they  excommunicate  or  suspend  from  ofi5ce,  and  when  he 
continues  to  resist  their  will,  they  place  the  interdict  over 
the  people,  interdicting  the  exercise  of  divine  services,  the 
display  of  the  sacrament,  burial — and  these  things  they  in- 
terdict to  men  altogether  righteous,  that  they  may  carry  out 
their  will  by  the  deliberate  imposition  of  such  burdens. 

But  this  is  an  evident  sign  that  these  censures  proceed 
from  antichrist;  and  these  they  call  in  their  legal  proceed- 
ing fulminations  when  they  are  directed  against  those  who 
preach  Christ's  law  and  who  show  up  the  wickedness  of  the 
clergy.  A  second  sign  is  that  these  censures  are  multiplied  on 
account  of  disobedience  done  to  themselves  rather  than  on 
account  of  disobedience  done  to  God  and,  therefore,  rather 
on  account  of  the  injury  done  to  themselves  than  for  the  in- 
jury done  to  our  God.  For  in  this  way  the  old  enemy, 
skilled  in  wickedness,  proceeds,  by  exalting  obedience  to 
antichrist  above  obedience  to  Christ,  and  so  he  usurps,  for 
disobedience  to  himself,  that  excommunication  which  Christ 
instituted  for  disobedience  to  God. 

'  Luther,  in  his  Address  to  the  German  Nobility,  called  for  the  abolition  of 
the  interdict  altogether  on  the  ground  that  it  is  a  greater  sin  to  silence  God's 
Word  and  service  than  if  we  were  to  kill  twenty  popes  at  once,  not  to  speak 
of  a  single  priest. 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         285 

And  he  proceeds  after  this  fashion:  He  infames  Christ's 
disciple,  later  accuses,  and  then  cites  him,  excommunicates 
and  suspends  him,  and,  if  he  cannot  bring  him  into  prison 
or  death,  he  then  invokes  the  secular  arm  and,  if  he 
cannot  vanquish  him  in  this  way,  he  superimposes  by  his 
wickedness  the  interdict.  Chiefly,  however,  he  proceeds  in 
this  fashion  against  those  who  lay  bare  the  malignity  of 
antichrist,  who  has  monopolized  the  clergy  in  largest  mea- 
sure for  himself.  Therefore,  he  launches  these  censures  for 
the  sake  of  his  clergy,  notably  those  engaged  in  litigation  out 
of  greed  for  benefices  and  at  such  times  as  the  people  have 
not  given  their  tithes  according  to  promise,  or  in  case  the 
prince  has  seized  or  received  the  temporal  things,  or  if  any 
cleric — even  though  he  be  the  most  iniquitous  thief  or  other- 
wise taken  in  crime — has  been  held  in  custody  by  the  secular 
authorities,  or  if  a  priest  has  been  wounded  to  the  shedding 
of  blood,  or  even  when  the  people  lawfully  have  withdrawn 
for  a  time  their  obedience  from  their  prelates.  But  Christ, 
the  high  priest,  when  the  prophet  was  imprisoned,  than  whom 
no  greater  has  arisen  born  of  women,  did  not  impose  the 
interdict,  nay  not  even  when  Herod  beheaded  him.  Yea, 
when  he  himself  was  stripped,  beaten  and  blasphemed  by 
the  soldiers,  scribes,  Pharisees,  ofiicers,  and  priests,  not  even 
then  did  he  pronounce  any  malediction,  but  he  prayed,  say- 
ing: "Father  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do,"  Luke  23  :  34.  And  this  doctrine  he  gave  to  his  mem- 
bers, saying:  "Love  your  enemies,  do  good  to  them  that 
hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  that  persecute  you,  that  ye 
may  be  sons  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  for  He  mak- 
eth  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  good  and  the  evil,  and  sendeth 
rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust,"  Matt.  5  :  44,  45. 

Therefore,  following  this  doctrine  in  word  and  work, 
Christ's  first  vicar,  the  Roman  pontiff,  also  taught  the  faith- 
ful, saying:  "Hereunto  were  ye  called,  because  Christ  also 
suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an  example,  that  we  should  follow^ 

'  The  Vulgate  has  sequamini — ye  should  follow. 


286  THE  CHURCH 

his  steps:  who  did  no  sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  his 
mouth:  who  when  he  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again,  and 
when  he  suffered,  threatened  not,"  I  Peter  2  :  21-23.  And 
Paul  traversing  the  same  path,  said:  "Bless  them  that  per- 
secute you;  bless  and  curse  not,"  Romans  12  :  14.  This 
doctrine  the  other  saints  also  followed,  who,  in  the  time  of 
persecution  did  not  fulminate  excommunication  or  suspen- 
sion or  impose  the  interdict,  but  when  more  serious  persecu- 
tion came,  the  more  urgent  were  they  in  performing  divine 
ministries. 

But  after  the  thousand  years,  when  Satan  was  loosed  and 
the  clergy  was  fat  with  the  refuse^  of  this  world  and  lifted 
up  in  pleasure,  pride,  and  ease,  the  interdict  had  its  origin. 
For  Pope  Hadrian,  who  began  to  reign  1153,  for  a  wound 
which  one  cardinal  had  received,  placed  all  Rome  under  the 
interdict.  Oh,  how  patient  under  trial  was  that  pope — not, 
indeed,  as  Christ,  Peter,  or  Paul,  or  the  apostle  Andrew! 
Later  Alexander  III  also,  who  began  to  rule  11 59,  placed 
the  interdict  on  the  kingdom  of  England,^  de  Sponsalihus, 
cap.  2,  Non  est  vobis  [Friedberg,  2  :  665].  Pope  Celestine  III, 
who  began  to  reign  A.  D.  1082,  says  something  about  the 
interdict  in  chap.  QucBsivit  de  majoritate  et  ohedientia  [Fried- 
berg, 2  :  506].  Later  Innocent  III,  who  began  to  rule  11 99 
A.  D.,  announced  the  interdict  in  many  decretals,  as  in  chap. 
in  concilia  Lateranensi  de  prcebendis,  lib.  3  Decreialium  [5  :  28 
sqq.,  Friedberg,  2  :  478  sqq.].  Still  later  Boniface  VIII,  In- 
nocent IV  and  Clement  V  imposed  interdicts  of  this  kind,  in 
the  Liber  Sextus  and  the  Clementines  [Friedberg,  2  :  937  sqq.]. 
And  in  this  way  many  such  interdicts  have  been  multiplied, 
while  the  clergy  were  inflamed  with  avarice,  the  pomp  of  this 
world  and  restless  ambition. 

1  The  word  used  by  the  Vulgate,  Phil.  3  :  8. 

*  Hadrian  IV,  the  only  English  pope,  one  of  whose  cardinals  was  murdered 
during  the  excitement  caused  by  the  presence  and  preaching  of  Arnold  of 
Brescia.  Henry  II  of  England  was  threatened  with  the  interdict  by  Alexander 
III,  1 1 73,  in  case  he  did  not  deliver  up  to  his  sons  their  wives. 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         287 

Hence  I  always  wish  to  know  the  ground  or  reason  of  the 
general  interdict  by  which  the  righteous  without  demerit  of 
their  own  are  deprived  of  the  sacraments,  such  as  communion, 
confession,  and  others,  and  at  times  infants  are  deprived  of 
baptism;  similarly  why  it  is  that  the  divine  ministries  of 
God  are  reduced  in  the  case  of  righteous  men  by  an  inter- 
dict issued  on  account  of  one  single  individual.^  Exceed- 
ingly wonderful  would  it  be  if  service  was  withdrawn  from 
an  earthly  king  by  all  good  servants  on  account  of  one  of 
the  servants  who  was  opposed  to  him.  And  especially  won- 
derful would  this  be  if,  on  account  of  one  that  was  a  good 
and  faithful  servant  of  the  king,  a  vassal,  wishing  to  bend 
him  to  his  own  will,  should  interdict  all  the  king's  servants 
to  do  ministry  to  the  king  himself.  How,  therefore,  does  a 
pope  or  bishop  so  inadvisedly,  without  support  of  Scripture 
or  revelation,  interdict  with  such  extraordinary  ease  ministry 
to  the  king,  Christ?  For  when  a  general  interdict  is  laid 
upon  a  city  or  diocese,  sin  does  not  decrease  but  rather  in- 
creases. For  to  the  righteous,  sepulture  is  denied  contrary 
to  Scripture:  "Thou  shalt  not  withhold  favor  from  the 
dead,"  Ecclesiasticus  7  :  t^t,.  For  who  doubts  but  that  to  bury 
the  righteous  dead  is  a  work  of  mercy,  for  the  angel  Raphael 
addressed  Tobias  thus:  "When  thou  didst  pray  with  tears  and 
bury  thy  dead  and  didst  leave  thy  repast  and  hiddest  the 
dead  in  thy  house,  and  didst  bury  them  in  the  night — I  car- 
ried thy  prayer  to  the  Lord,"  Tobias  12  :  12,  13.  Who  even 
doubts  that  to  hear  confession  and  consult  unto  salvation 
and  to  preach  the  Word  of  God  are  works  of  mercy?     Sim- 

^  In  consequence  of  the  interdict  pronounced  over  Prague  by  John  XXITI, 
1411,  Huss  withdrew  at  the  advice  of  King  Wenzel  from  the  city  and  remained 
in  semi-voluntary  exile  for  two  years,  until  he  started  for  Constance  October, 
1414.  He  was  in  doubt  whether  he  had  done  right  in  withdrawing,  den>nng 
that  he  had  "fled  from  the  truth"  and  instancing  the  case  of  Christ,  "who 
escaped  out  of  the  hands"  of  his  enemies.  He  insisted  that  he  was  actuated 
by  a  purpose  not  to  prevent  the  ministrations  of  the  Gospel  to  the  innocent 
by  his  presence  in  Prague.  See  Schaff,  Life  of  John  Huss,  and  Huss's  let- 
ters written  during  his  exile,  Doc,  34-66. 


288  THE   CHURCH 

ilarly  to  present  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist  to  the  devout 
people  and  to  baptize  are  works  of  mercy.  What,  therefore, 
is  the  reason  for  withdrawing  these  things  from  the  people 
of  God  without  any  demerit  on  their  part  ? 

Hence  St.  Augustine  writes  to  Bishop  Maximus,^  24  :  3 
[Friedberg,  i  :  987  sqq.]:  "If  thou  hast  a  judgment  about 
this  matter,  based  on  sure  reasoning  or  Scripture  testimonies, 
wilt  thou  deign  to  teach  us  how  a  son  may  be  righteously 
anathematized  for  the  sins  of  his  father,  or  a  wife  for  the  sin  of 
her  husband,  or  a  servant  for  the  sin  of  his  master,  or  how  any 
one  in  the  household,  yea  a  child  not  yet  born — if  born  at 
the  time,  when  the  household  is  held  under  the  band  of  anath- 
ema— why  it  should  not  be  healed  by  the  laver  of  regen- 
eration if  it  were  in  danger  of  death?  For  this  was  bodily 
punishment  of  which  we  read  that  some  despisers  of  God 
with  all  their  households,  which  had  been  partakers  of  the 
same  impiety,  perished  among  the  saints.^  Then  forsooth, 
that  the  living  might  be  struck  with  fear,  the  mortal  bodies 
which  were  destined  sometime  to  die  were  destroyed.  But 
the  spiritual  punishment  of  which  it  is  written,  'Whatso- 
ever thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,' 
binds  souls,  and  of  them  it  is  said.  As  the  soul  of  the  father  is 
mine,  so  is  the  soul  of  the  son  mine.  'The  soul  that  sinneth 
it  shall  die'  [Ezek.  18  :  20].  Ye  perhaps  have  heard  of  some 
priests  of  great  name  who  anathematized  some  sinner  includ- 
ing his  household,  but  if  perchance  they  were  ever  asked  about 
it,  it  would  be  found  that  they  did  not  give  me  a  fitting 
reason  [for  the  act].  But,  if  any  one  should  ask  me  whether 
it  was  done  rightly  I  do  not  find  anything  to  reply  to  them. 
I  have  never  dared  to  do  this  thing  for  any  deeds  done  against 
the  church,  without  having  admonished  most  solemnly.  But, 
if  God  has  revealed  to  thee  that  this  was  done  righteously, 

'  The  Decretum  and  also  Nic.  Fathers,  i  :  589  sq.,  give  it  as  a  letter  to 
Auxilius,  probably  bishop  of  Murco. 

^  Periisse  inter  sanctos.  The  Decretum  has  pariter  interfectos :  "  were  like- 
wise put  to  death." 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         289 

I  will  under  no  circumstances  despise  your  youth  or  the  be- 
ginnings of  your  ecclesiastical  honor,  for  I  am  ready  to  learn, 
an  old  man  from  a  young,  a  bishop  of  so  many  years'  experi- 
ence from  my  colleague  not  yet  a  little  year  old  in  his  office 
— I  am  ready  to  learn  how  I  may  give  a  good  reason  to  God 
or  men,  if  we  punish  by  spiritual  punishment  innocent  souls 
for  another's  offence  which  they  do  not  derive  from  Adam, 
in  whom  all  have  sinned.  For,  although  Clazianus,  a  son, 
drew  from  his  parents  the  corruption  of  the  first  man — which 
is  to  be  expiated  in  the  sacred  font  of  baptism — nevertheless, 
who  doubts  that  some  of  the  sin  which  his  father,  after  be- 
getting him,  confessed  did  not  belong  to  the  child,  seeing  he 
did  not  actively  partake  of  it  ?  What  shall  I  say  of  his  wife  ? 
What  of  so  many  souls  belonging  to  the  whole  family  ?  There- 
fore, if  one  soul,  through  this  severity,  with  which  this  whole 
household  was  anathematized,  should,  in  passing  out  of  the 
body,  perish  without  baptism,  the  death  of  innumerable 
bodies,  if  innocent  men  are  to  be  violently  drawn  from  the 
church  and  put  to  death,  is  not  to  be  compared  with  this 
damning  injury.  If,  therefore,  thou  art  able  to  give  a  reason 
for  this  event,  would  that  thou  wouldst  honor  us  in  writing 
back  in  order  that  we  also  may  be  able  to  give  an  answer; 
but  if  not,  it  may  be  possible  for  thee  to  give  a  reason  for 
your  acting  in  inconsiderate  excitement  of  mind.  Hence,  if 
thou  shouldst  be  asked,  thou  wouldst  not  be  able  to  present 
a  right  reply."    Thus  much  Augustine. 

From  these  things  Gratian  draws  the  following  conclu- 
sion: "Therefore,  it  is  plainly  shown  by  authority  that  a 
person  is  illegally  excommunicated  who  is  excommunicated  for 
the  sin  of  another."  And  back  of  them  they  have  no  reason 
whatever  who,  for  the  sin  of  a  single  person,  lay  the  sen- 
tence of  excommunication  upon  an  entire  family.  An  illegal 
excommunication,  however,  hurts  not  the  person  cited,  but 
only  the  person  who  excommunicates.  Hence  it  is  to  be 
noted  that  the  Gloss  of  the  Decretum,  summarizing  the  chap- 


290  THE  CHURCH 

ter,  says  concerning  these  words  of  St.  Augustine:  "That 
that  bishop  had  excommunicated  Clazianus's  whole  family 
for  Clazianus's  sin,  and  that  seemed  to  him  the  right  thing 
to  do,  because  one  is  sometimes  punished  with  corporal  pun- 
ishment for  the  sins  of  another  and  also  because  some  priests 
of  great  name  have  excommunicated  certain  persons  for  sins 
not  their  own.  In  the  first  part  of  the  chapter  Augustine 
asks  of  him  [Maximus]  the  cause  and  reason  of  his  judgment. 
Later  he  teaches  that  none  of  the  reasons  aforesaid  suffice 
to  confirm  his  sentence.  Thirdly,  he  comes  down  to  the  spe- 
cific act  itself  and  proves  that  the  sentence  issued  against 
the  family  of  Clazianus  was  unjust.  And,  finally,  he  advises 
the  bishop  that  if  he  is  not  wilhng  to  give  a  reason  for  the 
judgment,  he  ought  to  abandon  his  error  and  follow  the 
truth."    Thus  far  the  Gloss. 

Would,  therefore,  that  those  who  excommunicate  would 
heed  the  saying  of  St.  Augustine  together  with  the  Gloss, 
and  also  they  who  impose  a  general  interdict  for  the  sake  of 
a  single  man  in  the  church  or  the  state.  Why  do  they  af- 
flict with  excommunication  and  the  interdict  a  community 
which  is  not  guilty  and  altogether  deprive  the  good  and  de- 
voted presbyters  of  the  exercise  of  the  divine  ministry  and 
God's  devoted  people  of  the  sacraments  and  God  Himself,  who 
is  therein  set  forth,  of  honor,  the  dead  of  burial,  and  often  in- 
fants of  baptism,  without  which  they  pass  away  and  are 
damned,  according  to  the  judgment  of  Augustine?  Here  the 
Gloss  of  the  Decretum  says  on  these  words:  'Tn  case  one  soul 
through  this  severity,  by  which  that  whole  household  was 
anathematized,  should  perish,  passing  out  of  the  body  without 
baptism,  the  death  of  innumerable  bodies,  if  innocent  men  are 
violently  removed  from  the  church,  is  not  to  be  compared  with 
this  injury."  The  Gloss,  Argumentum,  says:  "Greater  is  the 
sin  if  one  soul  perish  through  the  sin  of  unbelief  than  if  they 
should  put  to  death  the  bodies  of  innumerable  martyrs  for 
God's  sake."    This  seems  to  correspond  to  the  very  letter, 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         291 

namely:  *'If  the  innocent  are  removed  out  of  the  church,  and 
the  bodies  of  martyrs  perish,  it  is  not  an  injury  but  in  pop- 
ular speech  it  is  said  there  has  been  homicide."  Likewise,  the 
Gloss  says:  ''More  grievously  does  he  sin,  by  whose  guilt  a 
boy's  soul  goes  out  of  this  Ufe  without  baptism,  than  he  who 
should  destroy  many  innocent  persons  by  violently  removing 
them  from  the  church." 

But,  alas !  all  such  things  as  these  the  clergy,  blinded  by 
wickedness,  do  not  receive,  who,  on  account  of  the  non-pay- 
ment, now  and  then,  of  a  little  money,  deprive  by  interdict, 
as  has  been  said,  the  people  of  the  sacraments  of  the  church. 
Not  so  did  Christ  teach,  who  above  all  taught  that  the  clergy 
ought  not  to  contend  by  resort  to  law,  when  he  said:  "To 
him  that  smiteth  thee  on  the  one'^  cheek  offer  also  the  other; 
and  to  him  that  taketh  away  thy  cloak  withhold  not  thy 
coat  also.  Give  to  every  one  that  asketh  thee  and  of  him 
that  taketh  away  thy  goods  ask   them  not  again,"  Luke 

6  :  29-30.  But  the  clergy,  at  ease,  hearing  this  most  salu- 
tary teaching  of  Christ,  ridicule  it.  Nor  is  this  to  be  won- 
dered at,  for  the  Saviour  says  later:  ''Every  one  that  hear- 
eth  these  words  of  mine  and  doeth  them  not,  shall  be  likened 
to  a  foolish  man  who  built  his  house  upon  the  sand,"  Matt. 

7  :  26. 

Who,  I  say,  is  a  more  foolish  man  than  the  cleric  who 
grounds  himself  in  the  refuse  of  this  world  and  holds  Christ's 
life  and  teachings  in  derision?  To  such  a  low  pitch  is  the 
clergy  come  that  they  hate  those  who  preach  often  and  call 
Jesus  Christ  Lord.  And,  when  any  one  claims  Christ  for 
himself,  immediately  with  carping  mouth  and  angry  face  they 
say:  Art  thou  the  Christ?  and  after  the  manner  of  the  Phar- 
isees denounce  and  excommunicate  those  who  confess  Christ. 
Hence,  because  I  have  preached  Christ  and  his  Gospel  and 
have  uncovered  antichrist,  desiring  that  the  clergy  may  live 
in  accord  with  Christ's  law,  the  prelates  first  arranged  with 

^  Unam  is  wanting  in  the  Vulgate. 


292  THE   CHURCH 

Lord  Zbynek,  the  archbishop  of  Prague,  to  secure  a  bull  from 
Pope  Alexander  that  in  the  chapels  the  Word  of  God  should 
not  be  preached  to  the  people.  And  from  this  bull  I  have 
appealed  and  never  have  I  been  able  to  secure  a  hearing. 
Therefore,  being  cited,  I  have  on  reasonable  grounds  not  ap- 
peared because  this  excommunication  was  secured  through 
Michael  de  Causis,^  after  we  had  made  an  agreement,  and 
now  at  last  they  have  procured  the  interdict  with  which  they 
vex  Christ's  common  people  who  are  without  guilt. 

Therefore,  I  could  wish  that  the  doctors,  who  say  that 
in  the  acts  of  procedure  nothing  absolutely  good  is  forbidden, 
nor  anything  absolutely  evil  enjoined  but  only  things  inter- 
mediate, would  prove  that  these  things  are  so,  and  that 
they  would  prove  that  an  interdict  so  general  is  a  thing  in- 
termediate, something  between  what  is  absolutely  good  and 
what  is  absolutely  evil,  depriving  the  innocent  of  the  sacra- 
ments and  sepulture,  interrupting  the  exercise  of  the  divine 
ministries  and  leading  to  no  good,  but  to  offences,  distrac- 
tions and  hatred.  And  how  would  the  doctors  be  able  to 
show  that  it  is  lawful  to  excommunicate  God's  people  from 
the  sacraments  and  sepulture  and  from  divine  ministries?  For 
it  was  about  this,  as  has  been  said,  that  that  most  able  doc- 
tor of  the  church,  St.  Augustine,  confutes  Bishop  Auxilius. 
And  the  proof  of  the  doctors,  which  is  a  combination  of  hypo- 
critical excuse  and  the  reasoning  of  rustics,  would  not  satisfy 
Augustine  as  reasonable  when  they  say:  ''According  to  the 
method  customary  with  the  church  and  the  Roman  curia 
and  observed  by  it."  See  what  a  hypocritical  excuse  that 
is!  "Before  the  fathers  of  our  fathers."  What  a  rustic 
method  of  reasoning  that  is!  "Here  only  things  indifferent 
are  commanded."     0  doctors,  of  what  church  is  this  the 

^Michael  the  Pleader,  a  title  given  to  the  Prague  magister,  Michael  of 
Deutschbrod,  by  the  pope.  At  first  Huss's  friend,  he  became  one  of  his  most 
bitter  and  persistent  enemies.  No  sooner  had  Huss  reached  Constance  than 
Michael  posted  up  charges  against  him  and  went  about  stirring  up  the  members 
of  the  council  against  him. 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         293 

method?  Of  the  apostoHc  church?  What  apostle  observed 
this  method  or  what  saint  after  the  apostles?  Never  was 
it  the  method  of  Christ,  that  head  of  the  holy  church,  in 
whose  method  all  truth  useful  for  the  church  is  contained. 

But  I  ask  where  is  this  saying  found:  "Every  place, 
city,  walled  town,  villa,  or  castle,  privileged  or  not  privileged, 
to  which  the  same  John  Huss  may  have  gone,  and  how  long 
soever  he  may  remain  and  how  long  soever  he  may  tarry,  and 
for  three  natural  days  after  his  departure  from  such  places, 
we,  by  these  writings,  do  put  them  under  such  a  great  ec- 
clesiastical interdict  and  wish  that  divine  ministries  be  stopped 
in  them"? 

Perhaps  that  method  is  founded  on  these  words:  "Men 
ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to  faint,"  Luke  18  :  2,  or  on 
these:  "Praise  God  all  ye  peoples,"  and  these:  "In  every 
place  praise  ye  the  Lord."  And  what  will  the  authors  of  the 
method  say,  if  it  should  happen  that  John  Huss  came  to 
the  holy  city,  Jerusalem,  in  which  cherubim  and  seraphim 
cease  not  to  cry  daily  with  one  voice,  saying:  "Holy,  holy, 
holy.  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth"?  Will  they  then  stop  these 
ministries  there  in  obedience  to  the  fulmination,  just  as  if 
Christ,  the  righteous  advocate,  would  not  intercede  to  God 
the  Father  for  his  faithful  members  or  that  the  angelic  choir 
would  not  sing:  "Holy,  holy,  holy.  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth"? 
Will  that  voice  stop  of  which  John  says:  "I  heard  a  voice 
of  many  angels  round  about  the  throne  and  the  living  crea- 
tures and  the  elders,  and  the  number  of  them  was  thousands 
of  thousands  saying  with  a  great  voice,  'Worthy  is  he^  that 
hath  been  slain  to  receive  the  power,  and  the  riches,  and 
wisdom,  and  might,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing ' ;  and 
every  created  thing  which  was  in  the  heavens  and  which  is 
on  the  earth,  under  the  earth,  and  in  the  sea  and  all  things 
that  are  in  them,"  Rev.  5  :  11-13?  And  let  not  the  doctors 
say  that  this  is  not  pertinent,  for  all  rational  creatures,  ac- 
^  The  "  Lamb,"  Agnus,  of  the  Vulgate  is  omitted. 


294  THE   CHURCH 

cording  to  the  method  practised  by  the  Roman  curia,  are 
subject  to  the  curia's  command,  for  every  human  creature 
is  subject  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  so  it  is  said  in  the  Extrava- 
gante  of  Boniface  VIII  [the  bull  Unam  sandam],  namely: 
"Further  we  declare,  say  and  define  that  it  is  altogether 
necessary  for  salvation  for  every  human  creature  to  be  sub- 
ject to  the  Roman  pontiff."  Similarly,  the  angelic  world  is 
subject  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  as  appears  in  the  bull  of  Pope 
Clement:  "We  command  the  angels  of  paradise  that  they 
lead  to  the  glory  of  paradise  the  soul  of  him  who  has  been 
wholly  absolved  from  purgatory." 

Since,  therefore,  according  to  this  method  of  the  curia, 
every  rational  creature — angel  and  man — is  subject  to  the 
commands  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  since  the  method  in  the 
processes  of  the  same  curia  states  that  "whatsoever  place, 
privileged  or  unprivileged,  to  which  John  Huss  shall  go,  and 
as  long  as  he  may  be  there,  we  do  subject  them  to  the  ecclesi- 
astical interdict" — it  follows  that  if,  by  the  highest  possibility, 
John  Huss,  according  to  God's  absolute  power,  reached  by 
death  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  that  city  would  be  subject 
to  the  ecclesiastical  interdict.  But  blessed  be  God  Almighty, 
who  has  ordered  that  the  angels  and  all  the  saints  in  that  heav- 
enly Jerusalem  are  not  subject  to  an  interdict  of  this  sort! 
Blessed  also  be  Christ,  the  chief  Roman  pontiff,  who  has 
given  grace  to  his  faithful  ones  that,  when  there  is  no  Roman 
pontiff  for  a  given  time,  they  may,  under  Christ  as  their 
leader,  arrive  in  the  heavenly  country!  For  who  would  say 
that  while  the  woman  Agnes,  to  all  appearances,  was  for 
two  years  and  five  months  the  only  pope,  no  one  then  could 
be  saved  ?  Or  again,  who  would  say  that  after  a  pope's  death 
and  in  the  interval  between  the  pope's  death  and  the  elec- 
tion of  his  successor,  no  man  dying  in  that  period  could  be 
saved  ?  Blessed  also  be  God  Almighty,  who  ordains  that  His 
militant  church  shall  have  such  life  that,  when  a  pope  is 
dead,  she  is  not  on  that  account  without  a  head  or  dead ! 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         295 

Because  not  upon  the  pope  but  upon  the  head,  Christ,  does 
her  life  depend.  And  blessed  be  God  that,  when  a  pope  is 
insane  or  become  a  heretic,  the  church  mihtant  remains  the 
faithful  spouse  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ!^  Blessed  also  be 
the  Lord,  the  one  living  head  of  the  church,  who  preserves 
her  so  effectually  in  unity  that,  even  now,  while  there  are 
three  so-called  papal  heads,  she  remains  the  one  spouse  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ! 

For  now  Balthazar,  called  John  XXIII,  is  in  Rome;  and 
Angelo  Correr,  called  Gregory  XII,  is  in  Rimini;  and  Peter 
de  Luna,  called  Benedict,  is  in  Aragon.  Why  does  not  one 
of  them,  called  most  holy  father,  out  of  the  fulness  of  power 
constrain  the  others  with  their  adherents  to  submit  to  his 
jurisdiction?  By  authority  of  which  one  does  the  Roman 
curia  speak;  which  one  has  fulness  of  power  over  every  man 
on  earth?  Therefore,  the  foundation  is  feeble  enough  as  a 
foundation  and  proof,  to  wit,  that  anything  should  be  held 
to  be  inviolable  which  is  announced  by  the  Roman  curia. 
For  the  rule  is  laid  down,  de  Constitutionibus,  lib.  6,  [Fried- 
berg,  2  :  937],  that,  when  two  persons  having  letters  from 
the  pope  in  regard  to  the  same  provision  given  on  the  same 
day,  he  to  whom  the  pope  offered  the  canonical  office  has 
the  preference,  to  whom  he  did  not  give  it  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  executor  2  who  first  besought  it.  But  if  they 
are  equally  in  grace,  so  far  as  the  form  of  the  papal  brief 
goes,  he  who  first  presents  it  [in  the  diocese  concerned]  will 
have  the  stronger  claim  over  the  prebend.  And,  thirdly,  if 
they  were  equal  in  these  three  things  then  the  canons,  to 
whom  the  collation  pertains,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  are 
bound  to  proceed  to  an  election,  the  one  left  out  being  de- 

'  In  arguing  for  the  superiority  of  a  general  council  over  the  pope,  Gerson 
took  the  ground  that  a  pope  may  be  deposed  who  is  insane  or  heretical.  The 
translator  must  confess  that  in  this  translation  he  has  been  inconsistent  in 
treating  church  now  as  neuter,  now  as  feminine. 

'The  executor,  usually  called  procurator,  is  the  legal  representative  who 
appears  before  the  ecclesiastical  superior  or  puts  into  execution  a  papal  or 
episcopal  mandate.  See  Hergenrother,  K.-recht,  428;  Friedberg,  K.-recht,  pp. 
327,  359- 


296  THE  CHURCH 

prived  of  the  fruit  of  grace — unless  from  the  tenor  of  the 
papal  letters  it  expressly  appear  that  the  pope  wished  to 
provide  for  both  of  them.  But  this  three-membered  method 
of  the  curia  seems  to  be  a  principle  most  contrary  to  Christ, 
because,  if  it  be  laid  down,  as  for  the  most  part  happens,  that 
the  one  placed  in  the  canonical  ofi&ce,  either  by  reason  of  the 
time  of  the  presentation  or  the  bestowment  of  grace  or, 
thirdly,  the  election  of  the  chapter  is,  in  respect  to  God,  some- 
what less  worthy  than  the  one  left  out,  then  by  this  greatest 
thing  called  method,  a  sentence  ought  to  be  pronounced 
contrary  to  Christ.  From  this  it  follows  that  that  greatest 
thing  called  method  is  contrary  to  the  conscience,  and  conse- 
quently contrary  to  Christ.  What  sort  of  a  proof,  there- 
fore, is  this:  "The  method  customary  with  the  Roman  curia 
and  observed  by  it  grants  a  thing  or  affirms  a  thing;  there- 
fore, that  thing  is  to  be  received  as  consonant  with  Christ's 
law  and  as  catholic"? 

/  But  this  rustic  mode  of  reasoning  which  the  doctors  lay 
down,  that  "before  the  fathers  of  our  fathers"  such  and  such 
a  thing  was  believed  and  observed,  would  lead  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  doctors  themselves  believe  and  observe  false 
customs  of  the  Gentiles  and  Jews,  yea,  that  they  ought  to 
worship  Baal,  as  the  Bohemians  worshipped  him  when  they 
were  Gentiles.  They  have  for  their  case  the  words  of  Ezek. 
20  :  18:  "Walk  ye  not  in  the  statutes  of  your  fathers,  neither 
observe  their  ordinances."  How  shameless,  therefore,  is  this 
argument  of  the  doctors,  "before  the  fathers  of  our  fathers" 
such  or  such  a  thing  was  believed,  observed  or  held,  therefore, 
it  ought  to  be  believed,  observed  or  held  by  us.  For  such  in- 
sipid arguments  are  made  by  unsanctified — insulsi,  unsalted — 
men,  to  excuse  excuses  for  sins.  Of  their  number  is  not  he 
who  said:  "We  have  sinned,  0  Lord,  with  our  fathers;  we  have 
committed  iniquity;  we  have  done  wickedly.  Our  fathers 
understood  not  thy  wonders  in  Egypt;  they  remembered  not 
the  multitude  of  thy  lovingkindnesses,"  Psalm  106  :  6,  7. 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         297 

And  if,  perchance,  the  doctors  should  say  that  in  their 
statement  they  mean  by  "the  fathers  of  the  fathers"  the 
holy  prophets  or  the  apostles  or  the  later  saints,  then  would 
they  be  able  to  give  their  express  writings  against  which  no 
one  would  dare  to  rebel.  And  their  urgency  would  cease 
which  breaks  down  argument  and  reasoning,  when  they  say 
that  in  the  proceedings,  following  "the  method  of  the  church 
customary  with  the  Roman  curia  and  observed  by  it  before 
the  fathers  of  our  fathers,"  only  things  intermediate  are  en- 
joined, things  between  what  are  absolutely  good  and  what 
are  absolutely  evil.  For  which  of  the  holy  Fathers,  prophets, 
apostles  or  other  saints  enjoins  that,  wherever  even  the  worst 
of  men  might  go,  there  they  ceased  from  divine  ministries? 
For  Christ,  seeing  that  most  disobedient  Judas,  who  was  also 
his  betrayer,  did  not  cease  from  divine  ministry  at  his  great 
supper.  Yea,  with  Judas  sitting  by,  he  exercised  the  divine 
ministry  and  gave  to  him  his  most  holy  and  divine  body  to 
eat  and  only  the  more  urgently  admonished  the  disciples  to 
watch  and  pray  with  him  lest  through  the  violent  assault 
of  the  scribes,  Pharisees  and  priests  they  should  fall  into 
temptation.  And  that  most  good  pontiff  did  not  withhold 
the  most  divine  prayer  when  he  was  being  blasphemed  and 
crucified,  but  prayed  for  those  that  crucified  him,  saying: 
** Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do," 
Luke  23  :  34.  "Hence,  praying  with  a  loud  crying  and  tears, 
he  was  heard  for  his  godly  submission,"  Heb.  5  :  7.  Hence, 
also,  his  true  and  real  vicars,  the  apostles  and  other  saints, 
have  imitated  him  in  this,  and  first  of  all  Stephen,  who  said: 
"Lord  Jesus,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge,"  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do,  Acts  7  :  60. 

And  it  is  wonderful  how,  in  view  of  the  Jews,  who 
denied  Christ  to  be  God  and  so  his  whole  law,  they  did  not 
impose  the  interdict  or  in  view  of  open  simoniacs  who 
are  the  chief  heretics,  and  by  writings  of  the  apostles  and 
other  saints  cursed,  excommunicated,  suspended  and  inter- 


298  THE   CHURCH 

dieted  and  aliens  from  the  holy  priesthood.  The  reason  is 
because  those  simoniacs  buy  and  sell  excommunications,  sus- 
pensions and  interdicts,  and  with  these  as  their  weapons 
they  feed  and  defend  their  simony  most  powerfully.  And  a 
proof  is  not  necessary,  for  this  simoniacal  trafficking  is  patent 
even  to  the  eye  of  rustics,  who  are  bound,  vexed,  oppressed 
and  plundered  by  these  selfsame  simoniacs.  For  to  such 
proportions  has  this  heresy  of  Simon  Magus  and  Gehazi 
grown  that  men  without  compunction  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  and  even  the  unwilling,  are  impelled  on  to  this  sort 
of  criminal  offence.  And  all  trafficking  of  this  sort  arises 
from  the  method  in  vogue  with  the  Roman  curia,  which  prac- 
tises it  in  turn  with  the  curias  of  the  bishops  after  the  man- 
ner of  Simon  Magus  and  Gehazi.  This  appears  in  the  dimis- 
sorial  letters  for  confirmings,  pardonings,  admissions,  and  also 
in  other  things  invented  to  get  pecuniary  plunders.^ 

Now,  as  to  the  condemnation  of  the  XLV  Articles,^  it 
should  be  said — but  I  speak  briefly — that  up  to  this  day  the 

^  LitercB  dimissoriales  is  the  name  given  to  licenses  by  ecclesiastical  supe- 
riors, setting  aside  the  usual  ecclesiastical  practices,  whatever  they  may  be, 
from  pope  down  to  priest,  as,  for  example,  when  a  bishop  grants  permission 
to  ordain  a  candidate  of  his  diocese  to  a  bishop  of  another  diocese.  Huss  is 
referring  to  licenses  given  by  popes  or  bishops  to  agents  to  perform  acts  pre- 
sumably for  temporal  favors.    See  Hergenrother,  K.-recht,  236,  239,  etc. 

^  The  XLV  Articles  of  Wyclif,  action  upon  which  was  first  taken  at  Prague 
by  the  university,  1403,  and  more  recently  and  drastically,  141 2,  forbidding 
any  to  hold  or  teach  them,  they  being  heretical,  seditious,  scandalous  and 
erroneous.  Doc,  451  sq.  At  the  city  hall  of  the  Old  Town  King  Wenzel  had 
the  prohibition  of  the  articles  publicly  announced,  Doc,  456.  It  seems 
strange  that  Huss  has  not  before  mentioned  these  XLV  Articles  by  name, 
which  were  the  first  cause  of  his  troubles  in  Prague.  In  his  Reply  to  Stanislaus, 
Man.,  I  :  33159.,  he  starts  out  with  a  prolonged  reference  to  them  and  re- 
minds Stanislaus  that  he  was  one  of  the  doctors  of  the  theological  faculty,  all 
of  whom  now  condemned  the  articles  as  heretical,  etc.,  141 2,  who  originally 
had  taken  most  positive  ground  on  the  other  side  and  strenuously  defended 
them.  Likewise  in  his  Reply  to  Palecz,  Huss  brings  out  into  prominence  the 
discussions  over  the  XLV  Articles  and  makes  the  statement  that  Palecz,  who 
was  one  of  the  eight  doctors  who  declared  the  articles  heretical,  at  one  time 
had  defended  them,  and  in  a  meeting  at  the  university,  throwing  down  one 
of  Wyclif's  writings  on  the  table,  had  said  that  he  was  ready  to  defend  it  against 
any  one  who  might  attack  even  a  single  word  extracted  from  it. 


SUSPENSION  AND  THE  INTERDICT         299 

doctors  of  the  city  hall — pratorium — have  not  proved  that 
a  single  one  of  them  is  heretical,  erroneous  or  scandalous. 
And  I  wonder  why  at  the  present  time  the  doctors  do  not 
teach  in  the  city  hall  that  the  article  about  the  withdrawal 
of  temporal  goods  should  not  be  put  into  practice,  the  reason, 
presumably,  being  this:  that  temporal  lords  may  at  their 
own  discretion  take  away  temporal  goods  from  ecclesiastics 
who  are  habitually  delinquent  [in  their  living  and  duty]. 
But  now  they  are  silent  as  were  the  priests  and  Pharisees, 
and  do  not  assemble  at  the  city  hall  to  condemn  those  who 
put  this  article  into  practice.  And  certainly  because,  as  they 
feared,  it  is  being  applied  to  them  and  will  be  applied  in  the 
future.  Let  them  lose  their  temporal  goods  but  God  grant 
they  may  preserve  their  souls. 

The  doctors  kept  saying  that  when  the  articles  were  once 
condemned,  then  there  would  be  peace  and  harmony.  But 
this,  their  prediction,  is  turned  into  the  very  opposite.  For 
they  rejoiced  while  they  were  condemning,  and  now  they 
lament  while  they  have  to  give  up  their  taxes  [ecclesiastical 
incomes].  They  condemned  this  article — namely,  that  tithes 
are  pure  alms  and  only  alms,  but  many  coming  into  the 
city  hall  begged  that  their  taxes — which  are  alms — be  not 
withheld.^  But  certain  lords  of  the  city  hall  replied  and 
said:  Behold,  ye  yourselves  before  condemned  the  principle 
that  tithes  are  pure  alms  and  now  ye  are  saying  that, 
indeed,  they  are  alms  and  so  ye  are  acting  contrary  to  your 
condemnation.  So  much  for  the  present,  other  things  being 
left  to  be  discussed  in  the  future. 

*  Huss  is  referring  here  to  the  dismissal  of  certain  clerics  of  Prague  from  their 
positions,  and  the  sequestrations  of  the  incomes  of  others  by  the  civil  authori- 
ties during  the  troubles  between  the  Huss  party  and  the  party  opposed  to  him. 
Tithes  had  been  treated  by  Hxiss  in  a  separate  treatise,  Mon.,  i  :  156-167. 
Huss  defined  an  alms  as  "a  gift  to  help  the  body  made  for  God's  sake." 


INDEX 


Abel,  3,  7,  13 

Absolution.    See  Penance 

Adam  the  Monk,  183,  217,  222,  230, 
258 

Adrian  IV,  286 

Agnes,  62,  127,  133  sq.,  174 

Alanus  ab  Insults,  $ 

Albertus  Magnus,  5 

Alexander  III,  280,  286 

Alexander  V,  181,  205,  240,  292 

Alexander  of  Hales,  97 

Alfonso  da  Liguori,  6 

Alms,  219,  299 

Ambrose,  8,  37,  62,  78,  142,  282 

Anacletus,  82,  no,  150,  153,  211 

Anacletus  II,  181 

Anselm,  94 

Antichrist,  21, 107;  in  the  papal  chair, 
128;  clergy,  159,  177,  184,  253,  284, 
291 

Antioch,  church  of,  63,  151,  214  sg. 

Apostles,  foundations  of  the  church, 
80;  equal  with  Peter,  82,  no, 
143  sq.,  154  sqq.;  fell  into  heresy, 
168;  duties,  158,  195  sq. 

Apostolic  see,  19555'.,  197  5g.,  212, 
230  sqq. 

Appeal  to  Christ,  207,  208 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  12,  37,  54;  on  faith, 
67,  94;  on  penance,  97,  189  sq. 

Aristotle,  2,  36,  234,  255 

Augustine  quoted,  3,  5,  7,  10,  15,  17, 
23  sqq.,  28  sq.,  32  sq.,  38,  42;  mixed 
church,  44,  SI,  53,  67;  on  Peter,  75, 
76,  78,  80,  83;  on  the  keys,  91,  95, 
gj  sq.,  105,  114,  116,  13159.,  132, 
13455.,  138,  141;  more  useful  than 
popes,  149;  knowledge  of  Scripture, 
ISO,  154,  158,  168;  "pope,"  174, 
183,  196,  198,  200  sq.;  on  hirelings, 
202  sq.,  213,  229,  237  sq.,  242;    on 


[lunication,  271  sq.,  288,  292; 
"a  holy  man,"  201 

Balaam,  225 

Bede,  157,  168 

Benedict  IX,  126 

Benedict  XIII,  156,  295 

Benedict,  St.,  245 

Bernard,  10,  31,  141,  183,  208,  211, 

21755.,     22255.,     225,     230,     233, 

242  sq.,  258  sqq. 
Bethlehem  chapel,  205,  254,  273 
Binding,  etc.    See  Penance 
Boehmer,  130 

Bohemian  clergy,  125,  161  sq.,  183  sq. 
Boniface  VIII.    See  Unam  sanctam 
Boniface  IX,  232  sq. 
Boniface-Martyr,  90 

Canticles,  4,  31,  60 

Cardinals,  131,  137555.,  143,  146; 
may  be  heretics,  168,  200 

Christ,  head  of  the  church,  9, 18,  27  sq., 
31,  54,  56,  83,  133;  the  rock,  74 
sqq-,  77,^2  sqq.;  the  Roman  pontiff, 
59,  119  555.,  14855.,  156,  249;  the 
good  bishop  and  best  of  masters, 
227,  235,  242;  to  be  obeyed,  238; 
and  the  death  penalty,  172;  and 
church  censures,  275  sq.,  291,  297  55. 

Chrysostom,  20,  34,  55,  89,  150,  197, 
242,  247 

Church,  Roman,  56,  61  55.,  64,  130. 
See  Apostolic  see  and  Pope 

Church,  unity  of,  i,  19,  30,  60;  gen- 
eral and  particular,  2,  3,  63,  133; 
body  of  the  predestinate,  3, 4, 11, 22, 
33  sq.,  50,  63555.,  66;  the  holy 
catholic,  4,  5,  14,  65  sq.;  mystical, 
9,  18,  53;  mother,  i,  21,  22,  30,  48, 
49, 62;  virgin,  13, 14;  mixed,  16  55., 


301 


302 


INDEX 


41  sqq.,  58,  138;  parts  of,  19  sq.; 
Christ's  body,  30,  33;  and  the  hu- 
man body,  35;  may  have  several 
heads,  29;  membership  unknown, 
47;  not  the  pope  and  the  cardinals, 
138  sqq.;  in  the  church,  not  of  it,  21 

Clement  IV,  208 

Clement  V,  130,  240 

Clement  VII,  121,  294 

Clerics,  I,  47,  48;  judged  by  their 
lives,  49  sq.,  196,  226,  228,  252,  283; 
to  be  judged  by  laics,  225,  227,  258, 

262  sqq.;  pride  and  simony,  228, 
252;  apostolic  duty,  196,  201  sq.; 
hirelings,  202,  210;  self-excommuni- 
cated, 272,  277,  285 

Colonna,  248 

Commentary  on  the  Lombard,  Huss's,  i, 

2,  3,  7,10,  39,  50,  52,  67,  92,  98 
Constantine's  donation,  129,  150  ^g'., 

153,  215,  226 
Constantine  II,  126 
Counsels.    See  Mandates 
Creed,  5 
Custom,  296  sq. 
Cyprian,  7,  158,  252 

Damasus,  174,  243 

Damiani,  4 

Dante,  130 

De  consider atione,  87 

Denifle,  39 

Desolation  of  abomination,  62 

Dionysius,  82 

Dollinger,  67,  127 

DuCange,  159,  172 

Ecclesia,  i,  3 

Eli,  278  sq. 

Epinge,  273 

Eucharist,  10,  11,  8g,  288 

Eugenius  III,  87 

Evagrius,  157 

Excommunication,     206,     249     sqq., 

263  sqq.,  267;  minor,  270,  272; 
Scripture  on,  285  sq. 

Fabian,  247 

Faith,  39,  48  sq.,  67,  68 

Felix,  128 


Fruits,  by  their,  etc.,  140,  143,  145, 

146,  148x3-.,  160,  173 
Fulgentius,  17,  45 

Gehazi,  143  sq.,  298 

Gelasius,    61,    130,    150,    212,    246, 

282 
Germans,  248,  250 
Gerson,  i,  295 
Gilbert  of  Holland,  60 
Glosses,  198,  224,  289,  etc. 
Grace,  twofold,  24 
Gratian,  23,  94,  247,  289 
Gregory  I,  7,  10,  16,  40  sq.,  52,  89,  99, 

116,  122,  145,  147,  149,  173,  239, 

280,  282  sq. 
Gregory  VII,  115,  180 
Gregory  XII,  156,  182,  295 
Grosseteste,  i,  204,  207  sqq. 
Guido  de  Baysio,  281 

Henry  III,  ^^gsq. 

Heretics,  24;  death  penalty  for,  171, 
182 

Hergenrother,  268  sq.,  295,  298,  etc. 

Hidden  Adversary,  Against  the,  282 

Higden,  127,  129,  178,  208,  261 

Holy  Spirit,  71,  150,  163 

Hope  and  faith,  70  sq. 

Hugo  de  St.  Victor,  251 

Huss,  depends  too  little  on  the  pope, 
161  sqq.;  on  sale  of  indulgences, 
165;  leads  the  people  astray,  184; 
his  party,  184;  disobeys  Alexander 
V,  205  sq.;  appeals  to  pope  better 
informed,  206;  appeals  to  Christ, 
207;  refuses  to  go  to  Rome,  248; 
resists  censures,  250,  26$  sqq.,  293; 
and  the  murders  in  Prague,  253; 
withdraws  from  Prague,  287 

Individual  judgment.  See  Obedience, 
Mandates,  Reason,  etc. 

Indulgences,  98,  117,  165,  207 

Innocent  III,  104,  108;  and  the  inter- 
dict, 286 

Innocent  IV,  67,  204 

Interdict,  284  sqq.;  effect  of,  287  sq., 
293  sq. 

Intermediate,  things,  218  244, 259, 292 


INDEX 


303 


Intinclio,  11 
Isidore,  7,  194,  239 

Jerome,  8, 15;  on  Matt.  16  :  16,  60,  89, 
103  sq.,  116,  128,  149,  155  sqq.,  162, 
174,  176,  182,  187,  242,  261 

Jerusalem,  seat  of  James,  214 

Jesenicz,  206,  267 

John  XII,  179 

John  XXIII,  i6s,  182,  206  5g.,  253, 
287,  295 

Judas,  3,  4,  II,  24,  48,  so;  Augustine 
on,  SI,  59,  123,  141,  297,  etc. 

Justinian,  246 

Keys,  power  of,  7s  sq.,  85,  87,  91  sqq., 
102, 106  sqq.,  1 13  sq.,  140.  See  Pen- 
ance 

Kingdom  of  heaven,  42  sq. 

Ladislaus,  98,  165 ,  2S3 
Laymen,  225  sqq.,  253  sq.,  262 
Lewis,  IS  I 
Liberius,  127  sq. 
Limhiis  patrum,  102 
Literce  dimis.,  298 
Luther,  144,  165,  284 
Lyra,  59,  164  sqq.,  199 

Mandates  and  counsels,  191,  193, 
217  sqq.,  220  sqq.,  232,  2^4  sq.,  236, 
238,  250  sg'^'.,  258 

Marcellinus,  261 

Marcellus,  82  sq.,  214  sq. 

Martin  V,  270 

Martinus  Polonus,  178 

Mary,  6,  121 

Matthew  Paris,  204,  208 

Mauritius,  233 

Michael  de  Causis,  292 

Mirbt,  14,  123,  127,  130 

Moses'  seat,  42, 198  sqq.,  201  sqq.,  221, 
236,  242 

Nicholas  I,  246 
Nicholas  II,  177 

Obedience  to  pope,  183;  defined,  i8s; 
Christ's,  186  sq.;  and  secular  power, 
190,  194,  217  sqq.;  to  ecclesiastical 


superiors,  229  sqq.,  238,   241   sqq., 
253,  258.    See  Mandates 
Origen,  191,  279  ig. 

Palacky,  205 

Palecz,  117,  162,  165  sq.,  211,  278 

Parables  of  the  net,  etc.,  40  sq. 

Paschasius  Radbertus,  i,  10 

Patriarchal  sees,  isi,  iS7 

Paul,  24,  36,  50,  etc. 

Pelagius,  pope,  8,  212 

Penance,  96,  98  sqq.,  loi  sqq.,  106  sqq., 

"3- 

Peter,  36,  37,  57  sqq.;  not  the  rock, 
73  sqq.,  78  sq.;  not  to  be  believed  in, 
79-81;  not  head  of  the  church,  s6, 
83,  139;  virtues,  84,  86,  123;  name, 
85;  rebuked  by  Paul,  86,  259;  and 
the  keys,  9s  sqq.,  105;  called  Satan, 
141;  his  duty,  170  sq.;  his  see,  214- 
216;  on  censures,  285  sq. 

Peter  the  Lombard,  94, 98  sq.,  104, 191 

Pisa,  council  of,  iss,  181 

Pope,  name,  145,  182;  wicked,  62, 126, 
173)  177  ^Q9-)'  209;  fallible,  71,  208, 
231  sq.,  261;  heretic,  127,  156,  181; 
his  pomp,  144;  not  head  of  the 
church,  125,  133-136;  one  among 
popes  till  Constantine,  150  sq.;  must 
approve  himself  by  his  life,  87  sq., 
143  sq.,  149,  173,  197,  212,  249; 
when  apostolic,  2S9;  not  judge  in  all 
cases,  161  sqq.,  169;  to  be  told  his 
faults,  259;  not  always  to  be  obeyed, 
183  sqq.,  221,  229  sqq.,  234,  250  sqq., 
264  sqq.;  not  necessary  to  the 
church,  147  sq. 

Pmsciti,  I,  16,  30,  35  5^.,  46 

Prague,  clergy  of,  263  sqq. 

Preaching,  118,  205  sq.,  2395?.,  277 

Predestination,  3,  14,  22,  23,  25, 
33  sqq.,  35,  49,  59,  66,  138 

Procurator,  29s 

Provisions,  208 

Pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals,  8,  82,  129 

Radulphus  Glaber,  178 
Reason,  131,  163,  2^4,  236,  249 
Reinkens,  88 
Remigius,  7,  77 


304 


INDEX 


Reprobates.     Sec  PrcEsciii 
Richard  of  St.  Victor,  99,  106 
Rock,  the,  59  sq.,  73sqq. 
Rupert  of  Deutz,  5 

Sanguinary  corollary,  171 

Saul,  93 

Schism,  Avignon,  181 

Schoolmen,  on  Canticles,  4,  36 

Schwane,  97 

Scriptures,  71  sq.,  131  sq.,  161  sqq., 
164;  clerics  to  know,  277;  on  ex- 
commimication,  285  sq.,  291,  293  sq. 

See,  sedes,  195,  213  sq. 

Sigismund,  232 

Simon  Magus,  4,  105,  298 

Simoniacs,  114,  291,  298 

Sortes,  189 

Stafcon,  253 

Stanislaus  of  Znaim,  117,  233.  See 
Palecz 

Stephen  I,  247 


Suffrages,  268 
Supererogation,  192 
Superiors,  49  sq.    See  Mandates,  Obe- 
dience 
Susannah,,  168 
Sutri,  177,  180 

Tychonius,  32,  58,  138 

Unam  sanclam,  14,  27,  56,  57, 115, 119, 
121,  153,  187,  286,  294 

Vulgate,  20,  22,  23,  32,  60,  63,  76,  78, 
84, 113,  119,  140, 162, 174,  187, 192, 
224,  225,  23s,  237,  272,  28s  sq.,  291, 
293 

Wenzel,  232 
Wibert,  180 
Wyclif,  I,  10,  II,  66,  117,  257,  298 

Zbynek,  205  sq.,  292 


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